397 - Urban Light
This was an impulse shoot folks. We'd just finished up shooting Griffith Park, and I was browsing nearby locations on my phone and found Urban Lights.
Honest to god I though this place was in Europe. But it's in so many films that it only makes sense that I'd be in Hollywood when you think about it. Naturally, I couldn't pass up the offer. Plus it's a place you need to shoot at night, and we were only 30 minutes away.
But first, we needed to eat. We found some dinky Dominos pizza down the road from it, and loaded up. I'm pretty sure I ate half a large pizza with five toppings. Scratch that. I did eat that much.
And guess what?
About 30 minutes later I learned I have acid reflux. And I'm not kidding when I say this, it was the worst heartburn I've ever had in my entire life. It hurt to BREATH.
Prior to this shoot, I'd always thought heartburn was just some thing you get when you eat too much fatty food, and wrote it off as nothing. Sure, I'd had it before, but never BAD. This... this was bad. I was scared shitless and spent 30 googling my ass off before we went out to shoot. I thought my lungs were FUCKED up.
Yep, I have acid reflux. And my WebMD diagnosis said it can take anywhere from 0-36 hours to go away, depending on severity. Great.
Well, that's my demon for this shoot, folks. We wandered out into the road, my lungs gasping for air in the windy Hollywood streets. The dust blew in our eyes like an ancient curse, and the neon lights of the Academy Awards museum dropped a vibrant red on the sidewalk.
I'm trying to get more descriptive in these write-ups, how was that?
Finally, we arrived at Urban Lights. And oh, was it beautiful. Poles in every direction, packed like sardines in a glowing box. Whoever created this place was an artist.
But even at 9pm, it was PACKED. Wanna be portrait photographers, families, and an Instagram models grazed the scene. A nearby security guard expressed that we can't bring tripods into the area. Fuck. I put it in my backpack and moved into the lights.
We picked a row and stuck to it, luckily you couldn't see other people in the rows right next to you, because they poles were so tightly packed.
The first photo I got was a look up. I wanted it to be as EVEN as possible, so I got down low with my wide angle and cleaned up shop:
“Optical Magnificence”
Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm 2.8
ISO 1250 ~ 17mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/500s
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Next up, I wanted a shot with Haley walking down the middle of it, so we patiently waited for the place to clear for a few precious seconds then snagged this baby:
“Parallel Pattern”
Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm 2.8
ISO 1250 ~ 17mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/500s
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
For a couple moments I got lost in the scene, and forgot that my lungs were completely fucked. It was glorious. But then the rain came.
Figuratively and literally. It started POURING out of nowhere (well... I guess we could have predicted that from the lighting earlier and the wind), and we ran for cover under a nearby palm tree. The whole place scattered like rats in a pantry, and Urban Lights became completely empty while it down poured.
I took note of my fucked up lungs again as adrenaline pumped through my body.
But I HAD to use this opportunity for a shot of the entire thing, especially because the ground was starting to get reflections on it. I lined up a frame, did a little editing, and here's the shot I got:
“Holly Hive”
Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm 2.8
ISO 1250 ~ 17mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/500s
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Wow. Killer street photography style shot. I keep saying I need to do more street and urban ex photography.
Well, I got through it guys. As I type this up the acid reflux is gone, and I'm feeling like a king again. Fuck that was a brutal experience though. Honestly I'd rather rock climb El Capitan for a shot then go through a whole adventure with acid reflux. God damn.
Until next time...
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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