Architecture Metro To LA w/ 14-35mm (warning lots of images)

tspore · #1 07-21-2008, 03:59 PM

So Scott Dordick a photo friend (also owner of Acratech) and I decided that we needed to go out and shoot for fun. I am so far behind on Weddings, and site stuff, I needed to just get out and shoot a bit to relax. So where as the 12-60 would be ideal, I wanted to play with the 14-35 just to see if I could be happy. Scott is mostly interested in Architecture, and I.... well am interested in taking photos. So it was a good day.

I started at 5:30 AM - Get up check email, site, etc. Fog had rolled in, and it takes about about 90 minutes to get to Pasadena where we were going to meet for the morning. I hadn't been to this Metro station but it was between his house and mine so it was a good meeting place for us.

The first thing I noticed about the Metro station was the Architecture. It was very nice. (In fact they had done a good job at all 4 stations we went to that day) It was still early (7:30) the station was mostly empty, people would show up 2-3 minutes before their trains but it was a nice day to photograph. Mostly overcast.

After a short ride to Union Station (about 30 minutes) we arrive to the busyness of people rushing around to get to their next stop. But the new part of Union Station was quite nice -

Right below the glass roof is this mural quite stunning.
http://tspore.smugmug.com/photos/334..._wyGL5-M-1.jpg

Even for 8 AM quite a few people were busy at Union Station

The older part of the station is a blast to the past, but they have really kept it up quite well.

Even going up to street level was very interesting

At the top of the stars above is this image, I didn't bother to read about him, but I thought it was a cool statue.

Here is Scott taking a photo of the statue.

(Really you have to love the f2.0 glass)  

We left Union Station and headed towards China Town on foot -

Alvera street is usually quite busy but it was still early so not much was open

Even China Town was mostly just getting their day started People were selling fruits vegetables and fish.

But other than that we didn't see much interesting.

So once again we boarded the Metro in China Town and headed back to Union Station

From Union we took the Red line out a couple of stops, and Scott and I decided to shoot an inbound train.

Finally we walked to the Walt Disney Concert Hall

But when walking I saw this odd reflection on a building - It doesn't seem to match any known reflections of the other buildings.

Architecturally again a interesting place -

Finally I interested myself with some Ultra Wide Angle flowers -

All in all a couple hours of shooting, and a very relaxing trip.img

attitude · #2 07-21-2008, 05:39 PM

Nice collection of metro LA and environs. 14-35 seems adequate and handled the material quite well. Enoyed the jaunt!

Tony Finnerty · #3 07-21-2008, 06:57 PM

Thanks for those photos, Tony! I lived in the LA basin for many years, before fleeing to northern California a quarter century ago. I still have lots of family down there and visit a couple times a year. I've started deliberately doing the tourist thing - visiting museums, etc. Your idea for riding the Metro to whatever destinations is great - I'll do that next time.

There may be reasons to escape from southern California, but you've shown how visually rich LA is.

tspore · #4 07-21-2008, 07:27 PM

We wanted to be able to move quickly, and a car isn't the answer, parking is usually difficult, and traffic often horrible. So this let us really view the world from a different place. (Not many people use the LA metro!)