Take It To the Bridge

Way back when I shot a number of overpasses in black and white. Just got around to revisiting them, in color this time.

Office

Elmo

Elmo and a friend left behind at a demolition site in Baldwin Village, South LA.

Century City Fog

Foggy morning on Santa Monica Boulevard in Century City.

Travel

Near Baldwin Village, in South Los Angeles.

Smoky

A small brush fire clouding the sky over the Grapevine on the way back into Los Angeles.

Near the End

One of the last images from the old warhorse. The Holga's guts (such as they are) gave way and it had to be retired. Details and images from that last roll to come.

Bridges

Los Angeles does not lack for highway overpasses, and I like how the Holga renders their grace and concreteness.

The Truck Next Door

A drive-by, somewhere in Hollywood I think.

It's Always There

I think I've tried a double exposure once with the Holga - on the first roll I shot. Don't know why I've hesitated - it's not like you really can tell what you're going to get anyway. So this one, shot in the alley behind a bike shop on Western Avenue near Santa Monica, was an accident. I forgot to wind the film, but, as with most Holga images, I'm happy with what I got.

Winter Tree

I have to say, I love the colors rendered by Fuji Pro 160s film - the blues especially are rich and deep and the film speed seems just right for outdoor images on the Holga.

Take It Down

Demolition of an old church at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and LaBrea Avenue in Los Angeles.

Color Got the Shakes

Usually like the effect better in black and white, but think it worked OK here.

Back to the Ethereal

Here's another one where I can't remember the exact spot it was taken. A combination of time and lack of clarity in the image (which is what makes it appealing to me). I have a feeling it was at the top of Mulholland somewhere, probably east of Laurel Canyon. 

Costume

My boy, a ninja at the Halloween parade at school.

More Plams

I never really saw the appeal of the Palm as a tree - no shade, lots of maintenance - but visually they are very appealing (especially in black and white).

Campus

There's a very cool Modernist building on the campus of UCLA, and I liked the juxtaposition of the randomness of the tree in front with the order imposed by the windows and otherwise blank facade.  

From the Archives

Here are a couple from 2006 - the one above from December, the lower one from August. I love the overpasses here in Los Angeles, there's something at once graceful and bleak about them. We spend so much time on the freeways, never moving as fast as we'd like but still too fast to really appreciate these things. I'd like one day to be able to walk around on an empty stretch - especially one where three or four bridges converge - and shoot, or even better to take the Holga up in a helicopter and look down on them (does it make sense to use such a cheap tool in such an expensive endeavor?).

An Old Favorite

Posted a while ago on the sister Los Angeles blog, I've always like the texture and motion the Holga captured on the ride home along Sunset Boulevard at dusk.