My Favorite Shots for 2014

I am firmly convinced that Los Angeles has always been one of the most interesting cities in the world, and it's even more so now with all the activity in the newly revitalized Downtown, also known as the Historic Core. Basically abandoned from about 1980 to just a couple of years ago, the population has boomed from an estimated 10,000 five years ago to over 45,000 today. There are new businesses, new construction, once-abandoned skyscrapers converted into live/work spaces, the Bringing Back Broadway initiative.and many new faces.

In no particular order, here are a few of my favorite images from this last year.

                                    

Mural "Lady of DTLA" finally finished

Los Angeles artist Robert Vargas has been working on a mural for the Gallery Row district of downtown L.A. for the last two weeks, and yours truly has been documenting the whole thing.

We'll be publishing a book detailing the whole soup-to-nuts shortly. In the meantime, there are a bunch of images of the process on my Facebook page.

Also, too, a big shout-out to Isabel Rojas-Williams of the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles for her invaluable assistance.

Keep your eyes on this space.

In the Green Lane

It's been almost two years, the automobile traffic has worn off the once bright green paint, but the lanes have proven themselves popular for all of Gallery Row's residents.

As always, click on the image for a larger version.

Image details: Nikon D300, Nikkor DX 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 AF

DTLA Instagram skylines

Rosslyn Hotel and annex

Rowan Lofts, 5th & Spring

Security Building, 5th & Spring

SB Lofts, 6th & Spring

Spring Street parking garage facade

Rosslyn Hotel annex, 5th & Main

View of the Santa Fe Building on Main at 6th

Elevator shed, rooftop on Wall Street

Arcade Building on Broadway

SB Lofts, 6th & Spring

SB Tower, 6th & Spring

Mural on South Spring, Night Shoot

It's 4:30 in the morning after a really long night. Suddenly you see something that you've passed every day for years in the daylight, but with the late night, the fatigue, the odd light mix, it becomes hallucinatory, no longer everyday "ordinary." Did it always look this way? Is that awning red or is it orange? And that mural, surely it's black and white?

The IS0 is set at 640, shutter is, whoa, 1/3 of a second? Really. Well, whatever - we take a breath, hold, breathe out slowly and squeeze. Click. Whatever the hell it is, it's in the can now.

Nikon D70s w/Nikkor 20mm f2.8D AF, 1/3 sec @ f2.8