Dead War Machine

CicLAvia

The brotha from anotha motha, Jefroe, hit me up this past weekend to see if I wanted to go to the CicLAvia ride that was happening on Sunday. I had never heard of CicLAvia, I just knew we were going to be going for a bike ride with some old friends. What I didn't know was that we would be joined by thousands of other Angelenos! Starting from downtown L.A., a 6 mile strip of Wilshire Blvd. was closed off to motor traffic, so that cyclists could ride their bikes in the street without having to worry about cars. When we got to downtown, there were bicycles everywhere! The streets were filled with people going to the CicLAvia ride. It turned out to be a perfect day for a bike ride too. People from all walks of life, young and old alike, came out to enjoy the sunshine the cycling. We rode the course from D.T.L.A. to Fairfax (where it ended) and back. By the time we got back to downtown, my legs were feelin' it! The hills on the way back turned our leisurely ride into a good workout! It was a great way to spend a Sunday with the homies. Now, I'm looking forward to the next CicLAvia ride! I brought the camera along, for the ride too, and got some captures to share, of course....

Thanks for checkin' out the blog! Check back soon for more Bsombin'!

Wreckage In The Shadows

Color Splash Black & White Ghost Spinner

Thanks for checkin' out the Bsombin' blog! I recently posted a few steel wool posts. In one of them, I mentioned some of the things I learned on my first "spinning" adventure with @xrissvlad. One of the things I mentioned was to not use your autofocus when shooting steel wool, because it can lead to blurry captures. I got a lot of blurry wool shots. I decided to try and use them, somehow, though. So I got to editing shots and got some pretty cool results. Below is one of the edits. ...a ghostly color splash black and white image of wool being spun on top of a flipped over Honda... I'll be posting a few more horrible shots that got edited into useable images, like this image and the image on the "Night Train on 1st St." Both images came from the throw-away folder and were edited back to life. Check back soon to see more edits, captures, poems, paintings, drawings, & more! 

Black & White Amoeba

Nergo Y Blanco

Capturing Los Angeles - Pt3

These are images I captured, through out the day, with my Android... 

Capturing Los Angeles - Pt2

...We stayed on the roof taking pics for a while, before heading back down.

The funny thing is, on our way out we realized that we could have just taken the elevator to the roof and didn't have to use the fire escape! But it made the experience a lot more memorable doing it our way. Lol. After the Rosslyn, I needed to get my feet back on the ground and come down off my adrenaline rush. We went back down and out on to the streets of D.T.L.A. again...

Capturing Los Angeles - Pt1

Thanks for checkin' out the blog! My capture missions are becoming more frequent and taking me to new heights. ...Literally! So far, I have found my way up to some very high and dangerous places, on my missions. The thing is, I have acrophobia. ...Or an extreme and irrational fear of heights. I usually feel like crying, I sweat profusely, get dizzy & nauseous, and get overwhelmed with anxiety when I get more than 5ft off the ground. So, needless to say, climbing up fire escapes that are 15 stories above the street is more than a little bit of a mental challenge for me. But, with Jefroe's help, I was able to drag my horrified ass up to the top of the Rosslyn Hotel one day. Since then, I have been climbing more and confronting my fear of heights more often. I guess my love for the capture is giving me a mental fortitude I never had before. Lol. ... although I do still feel like crying, I sweat profusely, get dizzy & nauseous, and get overwhelmed with anxiety when I get more than 5ft off the ground.

This series, "Capturing Los Angeles", is from that day that we climbed to the roof of the Rosslyn Hotel. I decided to edit the images in black and white, to switch things up a bit.

We started the day out in East L.A. I wanted to go to Hollenbeck Park, to see if there was anything there to shoot. And, we stumbled on to Linda Vista Community Hospital, when we got there. The place is supposed to be haunted and has been used as a location for several movies and TV shows.

After East Los, we headed to down town. We walked around for a while before deciding to go check out the Rossyln Hotel.

We finally decided to head to higher ground to get a better view of D.T.L.A. We got to the Rosslyn,  walked past the front desk, and went straight to the elevator. We went up to the 12th floor and exited to look for the fire escape, to access the roof. We found it and Jefroe climbed out the window without hesitation. I followed him and I almost passed out when I stepped out on to that fire escape! I felt like I was going to black out and fall off. I saw my life flash before my eyes and almost climbed back inside. But I was so excited to get on the roof, and get pictures, that I turned to face the ladder and started to climb. I held on for dear life, and acted as if I was climbing in an earthquake. I moved as quickly as I could toward the roof, in my near paralysis. When I got to the roof I felt like throwing up. But, as I turned and admired the view, I forgot my fear as I became overwhelmed by the beauty of the city. 

I even went and climbed higher, to the top of the elevator shaft, to get a better shot, because I was so awestruck by the view...