365 Photo Project - Day 31

Taken: January 31, 2010, approx. 6:40 p.m.
Location: Sunset Strip, Hollywood, CA

Today marks the completion of one month of my project and I'm still shooting. I was trying to get a Blade Runner feel with these shots which were both taken on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.  These two are my favorite of the few I shot. The first -- obviously -- was a mistake but nonetheless, I like it. The second is why driving the Sunset Strip always makes me feel like I'm in a world created by Philip K. Dick as imagined by Ridley Scott.

Took these with my K100D at a 50mm focal point -- through my front windshield. I used my dashboard as the tripod. Edited lightly in Photoshop.

365 Photo Project - Day 30

Taken: January 30, 2010, approx 10:20 p.m.
Location: Los Angeles, CA

This is my lame attempt at capturing the view from my friend's house off Roscomare in Los Angeles, where I happen to be staying this week. Just over that ridge is a pretty big swath of the LA basin, from Beverly Hills to downtown. Pretty cool in person. It was a foggy, partly cloudy night and despite a devastatingly perfect full moon, the view wasn't crystal clear. I shot this with a make-shift tripod and my K100D at a focal point of 95mm and a 1.5 second exposure.

I might give this another try before I had back home.

365 Photo Project - Day 29

Taken: January 29, 2010, appox. 4:30 p.m.

Location: Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, Ca.

My days of being a commuter have been few and far between but they've never been farther away now that I live in the rural confines of wine country. In my town, "traffic" is seeing another car on your street. "Commuting" is a five-minute drive or a 20-minute bike trip to my office and rush hour is a distant, painful experience that happens to other people.

In L.A., "going nowhere fast" refers to your career but going somewhere slow, well that's another word for "sig alert".

I've seen more traffic jams in the last five days here in Los Angeles than I've seen in three years living in Healdsburg. A pictorial diary of my stay here would just not be complete without some image of L.A.'s notorious traffic. Few places get jammed up as completely as the stretch of Sunset Blvd. between Brentwood and the 405 Freeway. It's a mess that turns what would normally be a five-minute trip into a 50-minute one. Scenes like the one above can only be confronted with what I call "Traffic Zen," which is infinite amounts of patience and a full iPod, preferably turned up high. Singing at the top of your lungs is always a good time-suck, though if you've got pipes like mine, it's preferable to make sure the windows are rolled up all the way. 

If you're gonna be out there, might as well make the most of it.

Taken with my K100D. The license plates of the cars in the foreground were digitally altered. I used Photoshop to do an enhance and edit, including using a high-pass filter.

365 Photo Project - Day 28

Taken: January 28, 2010, sunset
Location: Bel Air, CA

Today was one of those days that made me regret starting this project. Haven't even been at this a month and already searching hard for images -- like I'm running out of ideas.  This photo was one of several I snapped as the sun was setting outside a small market on Roscomare Drive, one of the canyon connector roads that link the Westside with the Valley.  I didn't like them and continued to take photos -- it's possible I shot everything in my room tonight -- but nothing really grabbed me. I should know better - forcing it never works.  Ah, but when in doubt, turn to ice cream ... or Photoshop. Ha. This moody image  reminds me of an old Western movie -- it's not that far off from the original though I did add a couple of color filters to bring out the hues of the setting sun.

Took this with my K100D, 18mm lens. Edited majorly in Photoshop.

365 Photo Project - Day 27

Taken: January 27, 2010, approx 10:20 p.m.
Location: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Wilshire Blvd.

My friend Susie lives very close to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). On the way to her house tonight for dinner,  I drove right by the museum and the installation of street lamps gracing the building's entrance. It has always intrigued me as a photographic subject (I'm not the only one it seems) and I wasn't going to miss my chance this time. The installation is called Urban Light by artist Chris Burden and features more than 200 restored street lamps arranged in columns. It's impressive during the day but at night, it's a glowing beacon on Wilshire that can be seen from several blocks away.

The last few years when I've been in LA, I've passed by it a lot and I also tell myself I'm going to stop and take a photo of it. Well, now that I need to take a photo every day, it wasn't hard to finally make good on the promise to myself so I pulled over late tonight on my way back to my crash pad on the West Side. I set up by K100, using the manual exposure and shutter settings and went to work. Getting the color and light balance was tough despite the light and I ended up using a photo filter in Photoshop (a combination of sepia and a cooling blue filter did the trick on this shot). While I was shooting, two girls pulled up behind me and started taking photos of themselves standing among the lights. I love the way people participate and interact with outdoor art installations like this one. I imagine it's never quite the way the artist or museum intends.

365 Photo Project - Day 26

Taken: January 25, 2010, approx 8:30 p.m.
Location: San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood, CA

Long day in the City of Angels. Took a lot of photos but this was the only one I felt like sharing. Mama said there'd be days like this. I gotta get back to writing.  Shot with my K100D.

365 Photo Project - Day 25

Taken: January 25, 2010, sunset
Location: I-5 at Kettleman Road

Because I get most of my work in Los Angeles, I travel down from Northern California every few weeks or so. I don't think there's anything I love more than long, solo drives with as many songs as I can cram onto my iPod. As long as I can remember when I used to make the regular trek between New York and Washington, D.C. (where I'm from and where I lived the first 10 years of my adulthood), I've loved to take road trips. I've driven across country and stopped or passed by most of the contiguous United States, minus about five spots in the middle of the country. When I was younger, I always drove at night -- I could see better back then and there was something about a wide-open empty road that sparked the world of my imagination. I did a lot of writing in my head in those days and except for perhaps the shower, I still do my best creative thinking in my car, by myself with my music playing.

Today's drive was easy despite some minor bad weather. I caught very little traffic and stayed pretty much ahead of the rains. Coming down off the Grapevine, the L.A. basin was clear as far as you could see, the lights twinkling like stars, like possibilities.  Made me think of a line from a Counting Crows song: "You can see a million miles tonight but you can't get very far."

These were taken with my K100D on the Kettleman Road exit off I-5 just as the sun was setting. I did a bit of editing in Photoshop. Had to as I messed up the exposure a bit. Hell, I'm still learning.