Photos of Early Morning Los Angeles
Photos of Early Morning Los Angeles – Photographing in the Dawn Hours
Photographic Los Angeles around the LA River during dawn. Growing up in Los Angeles I have watched the city fluctuate and morph over time. I generally like to take photos devoid of people, or with as few as possible. I decided long ago that the best way to accomplish this was to take photos from around 4:30 am to 7 am. This gives me the magic hour lighting and the soft diffused shadows that I tend to gravitate towards. The city during this time presents itself as a much different place, with different sounds, and different light. I tend to visit the same places over and over. My general area runs from the LA River from the north Fletcher Street bridge to the south of Downtown through Vernon, Boyle Heights, and East Los Angeles. I will cross the 110 freeway towards the west but that is rare. There are photographs that I have been trying to get for years and have noticed that during this hour is like chasing light. One has to be upright before it starts and it ends quickly. I have found myself with an idea only to find out that ten minutes later the light is gone. I have been doing this on and off for roughly 20 years.
Photos of Early Morning Los Angeles – The LA River
The Los Angeles River has greatly influenced my fascination with Los Angeles. This began as an architect student living downtown in the early 1990s in what is now the Arts District. It was a much different place back then and I was generally broke. On Sundays, I would often ride my bike through an empty downtown. You could ride in the middle of the street through the financial district. The only thing that would be open was the weird mall on 7th Street and Olive that had a B Daltons bookstore and I would often stop in to buy some paperback. To the east, it was very easy to go to the Sixth Street bridge and ride under onto the LA River. On a bike, this was relatively safe, at the same time this was not a safe place. Los Angeles was rampant in homelessness, poverty, and gang activity during the 80s and early 90s and this area was the epicenter. It was quite common to see groups of gang members huffing paint, smoking weed, and fucking around. The homeless were less of a concern as usually, they were not armed but they were often crazy and it was not uncommon to see or hear fights where we lived.
