Olvera Street & China Town - Part One

Last month myself and two friends took a train into Los Angeles and then an urban hike through Olvera Street and on through China Town. Our main interest was photography and exploration as none of us had wandered around in China Town and all had an interest. It was an exciting, exhausting and interesting few hours.

Starting with Olvera Street, the culture is overwhelming, and I found it very similar to walking through an indoor mall in Tijuana. What struck me the most were the colors everywhere. I was hopeful that my "from the hip" shooting was capturing what I was seeing. I did not want to draw attention to those around that I was taking photos as I did wanted to capture as much of what I was seeing - as I was seeing it.

This last image was taken of the foilage around a fountain on the outside of Olvera Street and filtered through Photoshop Lightroom to simulate infra-red.

I will follow this blog entry with the first part of my China Town experience which rendered a lot more photo opportunities.

Catching up with life

Been way to long since I did a blog posting, so here it goes.. been busy with life and other projects that never seem to get off the ground either much like working on this blog. Being a husband and a father takes a lot of time and dedication.. and well for good reason this and other projects will continue to be side projects in life.

Here are some images taken during the last few months with my new camera (Nikon D60)

The Pedestrian bridge that leads over the railroad tracks at the Fullerton train station has been a subject of my lens many times during my weekly jaunts. This image shows the north (station side) of the ped bridge elevator shaft. Ran through a few filters in Photoshop Lightroom for some color tweaking. Fullerton, CA - June 2008

From the same photo session on the bridge, this one shows the stairs down the south side and the new "Hip" slow selling condos that line the south side of the station. Fullerton, CA - June 2008A couple gulls hang on top of this large rock and shale pile in Commerce, California - June 2008

A ring of razor wire lays on the ground on the edge of the Union Pacific's 4th Street yard doing anything but keeping people out. Los Angeles, CA - June 2008

I call this one "Old Brown Shoe" for obvious reasons. Image taken at Lemon and 15th Street. Los Angeles, CA - July 2008

One in before the End of May.

Figured I should get a post or two in before May passes us all by. May has been a slow month for me photographically speaking. A lot of focus has went into getting a new home in order and getting married.
It has not been all void of camera action - just nothing I have to share at the moment.
April came and went - moved into a new place, had an eventful trip out in the Mojave desert and got more psyched up for marriage.
Here are a few random images that I had sitting in my Blog Image folder awaiting posting.
First is an image from the said trip out in the Mojave.
This is an annual event that I very much enjoy and it takes place usually in March or April and consist of a weekend camping adventure with many of my railfan friends and comrades from Fullerton and usually a few from other area's. This years event was full of forgetful moments for some and unforgettable moments for others. None of which I will elaborate on here other than to share this image of a train approaching us out in the vast desert near a place called Klondike.
Next image comes from downtown Los Angeles in another one of my "Im Bored and photographing old boring buildings again" jaunts through the area.
This particular one is located on 7th and Santa Fe near the LA river.
Lastly is an image from May .. hay, how about that!! I purchased a new camera on Friday the 23rd so Saturday the 24th, I hit the town with some sort of unfounded inspiration that never really materialized. I had a great time driving around solo and looking for things that I had photographed before with my old camera as well as new things to capture with my new Nikon D60. Cloudy skies and unpredictable weather led me astray much of the time and I found myself wondering around looking for things. This one was taken to the east of China Town along what used to be known as the SP Bull Ring (I think) back in the day with the Southern Pacific Railroad had a rail yard here. Would have liked to capture this with some rail in the foreground, but alas that is not possible any longer. So .. here is the downtown LA skyline under a few somewhat threatening clouds.