Union Station, Los Angeles

I’ve visited this station just off of downtown LA a few times and I love it features.  It was built in the 1930s and is a mix of Art Deco, Mission Revival, and Streamline Moderne styles.

Art Deco clock by the East entrance

Great typology

For this visit I happened to be meeting a friend coming into town and decided it would do no harm to arrive a little early and see what shots i could find; as it was her train was delayed and I had a couple hours to wander around.

Stepping out

Over the last few years I have enjoyed writing this blog and also posting my photos online, it feels good to share my thoughts and work. But all too easily one can get used to this kind of life with everything online and, apart from going out to take photos, not really mixing in the real world.

Even the going out and shooting for me for the most part is a solitary exercise. Of course I go on trips and visits with my Fiancee and I take photos, but even then it’s usually me taking my pictures and other times it is just me doing a photo walk.

So recently I have been actively seeking out opportunities to meet and spend time with other photographers; real in the flesh people – I know, shocking.

5 golden rules for photography

I have been (over) thinking my photography lately and been reading a lot from (and about) other photographers.

As a result, based on my own experiences I have I have put together these 5 things to think about when taking and sharing photographs.

As I said this list comes from me sometimes overthinking things especially when I am at a popular location; here’s how it goes…

So here you are at that classic landmark or location and you have your camera in your hand.  You lift your hand, compose and snap!  There you go, you now have an image of say, the Golden Gate Bridge, for example.  Before you press that button though maybe you should ask yourself a question;

  Why am I taking this picture?

The Guardians

I recently had time for a few shots around Burbank city centre and as it was dark I took my tripod to stand my Mamiya C330 on.

This shot was taken outside the Police and Fire department building and is of a large bronze statue which is a tribute to the Fire and Police officers of Burbank.  It is by noted artist Shiela Cavalluzzi and was erected around 1998.

I’ve taken a low angle focussing on the firefighter with the Police officer hidden behind.

 

Crissy Field sculpture

One of eight large-scale steel sculptures by artist Mark di Suvero at Crissy Field in the Golden Gate National Park, San Francisco.

Khamsin Wind of 50 days

Sculpture by Stuart Williamson

Mirrored sky

I took this at the Palace of Versailles in France a year or so ago.  It was part of an art installation there at the time and is a huge 20 foot round concave mirror reflecting the sky and depending on the angle the palace itself (you can just see some of the palace on the top edge).  I makes for an interesting shot as though I have copy and pasted another piece of sky into the picture upside down.

Sky Mirror by Anish Kapoor at Versailles

 

I liked the shadows so snapped this whilst drinking my coffee

Why do I do this?

I’m sitting here with not much to do (waiting at the airport) and I have been looking at some of the blogs I follow.  And I suddenly thought what is the point of photography?
Or more precisely what is the point of my photography?