As promised, the first in a series of pictures from Los Angeles that I took on our family “spring break” trip. I took this shot in the middle of an outdoor art installation titled “Urban Light,” by Chris Burden. It’s at the L.A. County Museum of Art (i.e., LACMA), and consists of 202 restored cast-iron street lamps all standing in neat rows.
The story of this image is one of perspective — and I mean that in a very literal sense.
A year or two ago, I had a little spare time on a business trip to L.A., and spent it looking at (and to a lesser degree, photographing) the La Brea tar pits. This was pre-DSLR, so I wasn’t yet manic about photography… Anyway, a few months after I returned home, I saw Muzzlehatch’s excellent shot of “Urban Light” — and during the course of sending notes back & forth with him realized that this artwork was just down the block from the tar pits. I’d missed the opportunity to photograph the art work because I’d been there shortly before it was unveiled, besides I had no clue as to what was going up — literally just around the corner from me.
So when we started planning our “spring break” trip, I made sure that the tar pits landed on our list of things to see (LACMA itself didn’t make the cut since art museums aren’t generally reliable entertainment for 6 year olds). After seeing the tar pits, it was pretty simple to leave my wife & little one to some “quiet time” in the rental car while I slipped down the block to wander through “Urban Light.” Of course, once there, the question became how to photograph it. Muzzlehatch did a really good job on it already, so I had to do something different or I’d wind up with only a copy of one of his shots.
After taking 5 or 10 pictures from different angles using different lenses, it finally occurred to me to just look up. Fortunately, the day’s haze had (briefly) cleared away, so I was able to capture this nice shot on blue sky (with the fisheye lens, not de-fished). Now I just need to make a mental note — next time I’m in L.A. with a little time on my hands, I need to get a shot of this at night!
BTW, if you want to see more perspectives on this piece, make sure you check out its Flickr group.
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March 28th, 2009 at 07:31
Wow really like this shot! Awesome POV and a great idea!
Andys last blog post..The Knot
March 29th, 2009 at 01:41
As Andy said, an awesome PoV. Very very cool shot.
Michael Rawluks last blog post..Cowboy Wind Chimes
April 7th, 2009 at 08:20
Fantastic perspective! That’s a lot of lights.
christines last blog post..English Meadows Grazed Upon