Location scouting in DTLA. - Pt.2

#DTLA #Lurking - Pt.1

'Sup world!? Many thanks for visiting this here blog o' mine! I'll spare you the long version and abbreviate the story behind this set of pictures... Some of the ILUMN8 fam was getting together to break bread, in Little Tokyo, one night last month. Some business was spoken, but most of the conversation at the dinner table wasn't about business. After dinner, drinks, some smoke, and a lot of laughs, we split back up into the groups and pairs that we arrived, bid one another good night, and we headed out onto our separate adventures. Which brings me to the shots I'm sharing today. Obviously, this is where my adventure took me that night. ...high and low through the streets of DTLA. From J-Town, to the 101, to City Hall, to some rooftops over 3rd street, and back to "Pearl"(..my truck). Here are some shot's from my Friday night lurk through DTLA, for you to enjoy. Check back soon for more Bsombin'!

My poetic depth

"Implosion"

Frozen desert &

Arctic oasis

  ...they found my 

    Sediment in sentiment's aftermath,

      Before beginning to 

        Implement their icy ways on my

          Blackened fragments

    Their's was a forced assimilation,

      Brought by void's embrace,

        Which demanded I be force fed insecurities

          By rejection's tundra and

            Solitudes abyss

  As arteries turned to winter streams,

    During the decomposition of my corner stone,

      The absence of sunshine invaded my tomorrows and besieged my fortified

      Bliss;

        Sympathy forced her gravity to invert it's pull and crystallized into a toxic

        Shrapnel embedded in my sense of self and subconscious; & 

          My failure's echos set off the avalanche that buried my will to continue

Then, just as

  My moon began to sink into bitterness' black ice,

    The last drop of 

      Sunshine that my heart had left inside

        Dripped over my third eye...

Suddenly, this abomination imploded,

  Forgetting my regrets and lamentations, as

    Selflessness replaced the frozen eyes I was blinded by & 

      Mended the wounds that had been inflicted by greed and gluten,

        Then compassion and empathy grew out of depression and apathy...

The black ice was replaced by red magma & the bitter wrath transformed to

  Sweet affection

...Once broken and cold,

  Now solid & fiery...

    Never again will heart ache's frost settle on my

      Summery soul, now that it burns full of love's wisdom & understanding!

- Bsomb4

Location scouting in DTLA. - Pt.1

'Sup world?! Thanks for checkin' out my blog! Although currently living in the San Fernando Valley, a lot of my time is spent in D.T.L.A. ...From business meetings, to family events, to days and nights spent shooting the city, I find myself in downtown Los Angeles often. The bunch of pics I'm sharing today are some of what I collected on a day of location scouting. Not gonna get into why I was scouting out locations just yet. What I will say is that joining the ILUMN8 family has made me a much busier person! I'll be sharing more of what I have been working on with ILUMN8, on my site blog and on the the ILUMN8 website's blog. As for this blog, I'll just share some of my favorite pics from another day spent shooting DTLA...

Soakin' in the Santa Monica sunshine - Pt.3

Thanks for checkin' out my blog, check back soon for more pics, poems, stories and more! 

Soakin' in the Santa Monica sunshine - Pt.2

A Haiku poem to celebrate the arrival of Spring

Spring Things

Green bud on brown branch

New born bird sings in it's nest

Bright colors are blooming

Soakin' in the Santa Monica sunshine - Pt.1

I think of myself as a tourist in my own city. In my endless tour of Califonia, I've come to love the westside of L.A. a lot! West Los Angeles is made up of several beautiful cities, including Santa Monica, Venice, Marina Del Rey, Culver City, Westwood, Brentwood, and the Pacific Palisades. Santa Monica has grow to be one of my favorites, after years of working in the city. My friend Erika asked me to meet her out on the westside, one December day last year, so we could go shoot. After picking her up in Brentwood, we headed down to Santa Monica beach to shoot. Our first stop was the Promenade on 3rd St. for a snack and bathroom break. There are a lot of great places to eat and shop, just a few blocks from the beach and pier, at the Santa Monica Mall and 3rd St Promenade. We wandered around the Promenade for a bit before making our way over to the beach to shoot. From the beach, we hit the pier. After which we had to call it a day since Erika had a softball game to get to. We had a blast though, hangin' out and shootin' along the coast that day, before I had to drop her off back at her car. Below are some of my favorite shots from the day for you to check out. Thanks for checkin' out my blog, and check back soon for more of my endless tour of Cali and beyond!

Revisiting old spots with an old friend

Hi and thanks for checkin' out my blog. Over the years, in going out on my photo-adventures, I have found a lot of spots to shoot through out southern California. From running around on freeways to climbing up on to rooftops, these photo adventures have taken me high and low. From her beautiful sunny beaches to her grimy dark ghettos, I've been all over Los Angeles county and many of her surrounding counties shooting. My partner on many of these missions has been, my brotha-from-anotha-motha, Jefroe. He's actually been my partner on many other missions too...

We met through mutual friends, as teens, and got to know each other because of our mutual love for skateboarding. Later in life, we grew out of skating and got into graffiti together. We spent our twenties bombin' L.A. and raving all over the southland. We even started a crew, together, that made a lot of noise in the Los Angeles graff world. And, now, through out our thirties, we have found a mutual love for photography. I guess you could say we are birds of a feather. Lol. My doot and I have see one another through the good and bad, through the highs and the lows, and through so many of life's trials and tribulations. From my wedding to his grandma's funeral, we've shared a lot of good and bad times. I got a lot of love for my homie!

Last December, Jefroe hit me up and asked me if I wanted to get one more mission in before the end of 2014. My reply was, "I got a lot of new spots to show you dog!" So I geared up and headed over to Froe's. It was the first time in a good minute that we had gone out to shoot, and I wanted to take him back to some of the rooftops that I had found in previous months. The plan was to hit a rooftop spot in Hollywood then head out to downtown to shot off of a helipad I found my way up onto. After a quick dab session at the homie's pad, we hoped in the truck and rolled out for a night of lurking...

Thanks for checkin' out the blog, check back soon for more Los Angeles street photography and more Bsombin'!

Ridin' the Redline

Thanks for stoppin' by my blog! The L.A. subways stations are all beautiful examples of modern architecture and visiting them always make me want to shoot. So, I took the camera along for a ride on the Redline train and shot the stations from North Hollywood to Hollywood Blvd, to get some subterranean captures, one day...