talltowers
Taking a tour of my old haunt downtown Los Angeles yesterday, I got some killer shots in. This was almost a virgin pass at downtown Los Angeles since my 12 megapixel Kodak camera came into my possession.
The buildings in downtown Los Angeles are world class architecture in the billions of dollars. I also like to think I had learned a thing or two regarding getting the most from a “travel” day.
But what surprised me was the quality of the shots from a location I considered “familiar” or unlikely to be mined for microstock value. My best picture is likely one I might have taken 500 times working and sightseeing downtown.
Wow. What a difference training and technique and a better camera make. Once upon a time I would have been “waiting” for the best shots to spend my film on, instead of steadly absorbing workable croppable shots little by little, making the most of every locale.
My technique to get some killer photo walkabout shots had improved so much I was out of batteries long before I was out of cityscape. Whereas once upon a time I might have come home disappointed with a dozen or so shots, such is not the case anymore. With decent subject material and a fresh location, the focus and attention challenge a microstock photographer like no other situation can.
I got that deja vu feeling from some of my most successful location photo passes. Learning how to get the most of every angle, every location step by step down steep canyon building lined city blocks makes a memory stick load up pretty fast. I kept my mind on my shots, knowing I had some serious microstock gold inside the camera already.
I got a lot of shots in a short amount of time. This can be good because you don’t take so many that you never work through the image files. The sun set faster than I had time for, but I had chosen a good day to shoot a metropolitan city. Knowing your location is also key, I had a feeling that on a cloudy Sunday with nothing scheduled the streets of downtown Los Angeles might be quiet enough to attempt a sidewalk jaunt.
Whereas on my sunny days the glare and light from the sky would backlight the skyscrapers, a cloudy, morose day made for great photographic opportunities. The buildings would have a stark mirror gloss that would show up fantastically against a uneven gray/white sky. I also remembered how cloudy overcast days in Portland inspired some of the best shots I’ve ever taken.

 

 

 

 

 

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