Chasing buses in K-town

Thanks for checkin' out the Bsombin' blog! I've been doing a lot of catching up on editing pictures, the past couple of weeks. As I was going through my folders, I found these light trail pictures I took earlier in the year.

I decided to try and get some light trail shots, one night after shooting with a model friend of mine who lived in K-town. I had picked her up and taken her to downtown to shoot. We had a great night and got some shots we were both very happy about. So, I was still in the mood to shoot some more, after I dropped her off. She lived close to Wilshire and Western. So I parked by the Denny's there and walked over to the intersection to try and get some light trail shots with the iconic Wiltern Theater in the background. What I thought would be a quick stop turned into a couple of hours of running around chasing buses and shooting light trails. There were a lot of buses running still. But I didn't have a schedule to see when they would arrive. So I ended up running back and forth across the street to catch the buses as they came into sight. Some of the buses didn't give me a lot of time to react. So I was literally running through traffic to shoot the buses. I misses a lot of them, too, because I didn't have any idea of which bus would be coming when. I would set up on one corner, to wait for a bus, and would then see a bus coming from the opposite side of the street. So i would have to run across the street to try and set up again before the bus passed. But I still missed a lot of them because I didn't have enough time to set up before the bus would take off. The fun turned to frustration after a while, because the buses started to come less often. But I was able to get a lot of shots that I was really happy with that night. I'm still going through editing a lot of folders full of pictures to share, right now, including more pictures from Supercar Sunday! But, for now, I wanted to share the fruits of my bus chasing labor with you all...

Back Down On Upper Grand

Thanks for checkin' out the Bsombin' blog! I'm starting to feel like I don't want to shoot in daylight anymore. I have been. But the more I explore the world of night photography the more that I love it. Long exposure photography, in particular! I especially love light trails and light painting. Light trails were one of the main reasons I started shooting. After seeing light trail images for the first time, I wanted to learn how to make my own.

The last time I went to downtown, I posted up across the street from to the Disney Concert Hall to get some light trail shots. I started on 1st and Upper Grand and worked my way south on Grand. The thing about light trails is you never really know what you are going to get out of a long exposure of traffic. The streets are just too unpredictable. I usually have a good idea of what the shots will look like, when I set up my tripod and adjust the settings on the camera. But it's hard to tell what the cars in the street are going to do and how everything will record. For example, I had a few shots where cars stopped at the intersection while the shutter was open. Some of the results were things I didn't plan. I had a shot of a car making a right turn that made the license plate readable. But the rest of the car was phaded and blended into the light trails behind it. It's also interesting to see what the streets themselves do to the light trails. Like how bumps and potholes make straight light trails get wavey or put bends in them. There are a lot of tricks you can do with long exposure photography too. I'm planning on posting some tutorials, since I've had people asking me about the tricks and techniques that I use on some videos I posted on Bsombin.com. So that will be happening soon. But for now, I want to share the pictures I got on Upper Grand.

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

West Coast Weekends Pt2 - Van Nuys Blvd. Cruise Night

After a day at the Venice beach, it was time to head back to the Valley for Van Nuys Blvd, Cruise Night. Unfortunately, I got there late. And, I still had to go walk and feed my aunt's dogs. So I wasn't able to stay long. But I did manage to get some shots worth sharing. I even got a couple of light trail shots that I'm really happy with. There were a bunch of car clubs there, that night. And I got invited to a couple of the car club's picnics that are coming up. So there will be a lot more lowrider images here in the weeks to come. In the mean time, though, here are my favorites from last weekend...

Thanks for checkin' out Bsombin'! Make sure to check back soon for more lowriders, west coast stories, and more!

Instagram Friends

Thanks for checkin' out Bsombin'! Over the years, I've met a lot of amazing people and made some good friends through Instagram. From the models and photographers that I have collaborated with to the entrepreneurs and businesses that have hired me, Instagram has helped me to connect to a lot of people who I probably wouldn't have met otherwise.

A few years ago I started following a photographer from Arkansa named Luke, after he followed me. Luke would share his favorite accounts with his followers, on his IG story. One of the accounts that he shares on his story belonged to a guy named Aaron. I think Aaron was living in Colorado at the time. But, Aaron and I also started following one another, thanks to Luke. After following him for a bit, I noticed Aaron was shooting in LA and around California. Mean while, Luke decided to take some time off of Instagram and went missing in action.

It had been a while since I had heard from Luke. But last week I got a message from him asking if I was still in LA and if I wanted to meet up with him and Aaron to shoot? He said they were going shooting the next day and then he was leaving back to Arkansa the following day. Fortunately, I was able to meet up with them. I had some stuff to take care of during the day. But I was able to meet up with them at night. I had asked them what they wanted to shoot, so I could plan a little tour for them. When I gave him some options, Luke was quick to answer rooftops and steel wool. So I wanted to take them on a tour of a couple of easy to access rooftops before heading into the LA river to spin wool. We started with a helipad on an rooftop close to the 110 freeway. We had good luck there. We all got shots we were really happy with and were able to get in and out without any problems. After that, I took them to another helipad on a rooftop that's just outside of Skid Row. That spot was a little more challenging due to a gate that had just been installed around the helipad. But we managed to get on the helipad and get some cool pics anyways. The next (and final) stop on the tour was the LA river. I wanted to take them to a spot on the train tracks where I had shot at about a year ago. The thing to keep in mind when showing people around downtown, though, is that things are always changing and they change pretty fast. So, the spot I took them to was gated off and we couldn't get in. I can be very persistent, when I make up my mind to do something, however. And I wasn't about to let Luke and Aaron go home without some steel wool shoots. So I started looking for another way in and was able to get us onto the train tracks after a walk around the block. The next problem we encountered were the newly installed flood lights that made the spot too bright for steel wool shots. I suggested going down into the river, to get out of the light, and shooting by the water so we could get a little bit of a reflection off the water's surface. We found a good spot and were able to shoot for a little bit before we got chased out of the river by some guy with a flashlight. Still, it was a successful mission. We got out safe and everyone got at least a few good steel wool shots before we had to call it a wrap. By the time we got back to the cars, it was a little past midnight. Luke and Aaron had a long drive back to Aaron's, and I had to be up early the next day, so we called it a night. After saying goodbye to the guys, I headed home to go through my pics. Not sure when I will see Luke again, since he's back in Arkansa. But, now that I know Aaron lives out here in Cali, we'll be shooting again soon. I didn't shoot a lot, that night, since I had already been to all of those spots several times. But I still managed to get some pictures worth sharing...

I feel very fortunate to have had all the great experiences and to have met all the amazing people that I have found through Instagram. I think it's important that we try to use our social media to connect with others in order to help one another grow and build. But I also want to remind everyone to be very careful when meeting people that you've met online. Not all the people who I've met have been as cool as Luke and Aaron. But that's another story for another time... I hope you enjoyed the pics, Thanks for checkin' out the blog. Please check back soon for more Bsombin'!