Last weekend Local Guides all over the world held photowalks in their cities. I was fortunate enough to be in LA and participate at the local photowalk.
Meeting point was the Blue Bottle Coffee Café in Los Angeles. From there we walked the streets and explored the street arts in the area.. This area reminds me a bit about Lynwood Walls in Miami, where artists from all over the world come in and paint street art on houses. It always changes and gives you new art to explore over and over. In Los Angeles they do the same thing. Artists come and paint the walls of houses, sidewalks and other things. That’s why this area is called the Arts District.
Led by two awesome Google Local Guides Moderators, JR and Jose, we took tons of pictures and had a great time. We even met the Marketing Manager from URB-E, who was shooting a new commercial for the URB-E Scooter. JR took one of the scooters for a test ride.
My personal highlight however was, being able to access the LA River. Yes the “world-famous” LA River, known from movies like Terminator and Gone in 60 seconds. I always thought there is no way to enter this river bed, but fortunately there is. We met other people taking pictures down in the LA River and some nice river-front “properties”.
Nearby Mercedes-Benz was shooting a new commercial and some scenes for NCIS:LA were shot as well. This area is used a lot for filming. From small commercial all the way up to Hollywood Blockbusters.
A lot of people signed up for the event but in the end our group ended up to be only 8 people. This was perfect for a photowalk. Not too much people to stand in each others way and still enough people to have a good time. 🙂 This was really an amazing event for me and it was also great to meet local people who share the same interests.
As the sun began to set we set down for dinner at Zinc Cafe Market & Bar. What we didn’t know in the beginning was, that this is a vegan place. It shocked me a bit when our waiter told us that this is avegan-only place. I love meat! But spotting a spinach lasagna on the menu helped to make the experience better, since I love spinach as well. The service was great in the beginning. We got a table for the group without any long waiting time. However the quality of the service changed pretty quick. I ordered a refill for my Coke and the waiter asked whose Coke it was. I told him that’s my refill. He turned around, went to the next table and disappeared for good. I never saw a refill this night. The other people of the group had similar experiences. At least they can get credit for the great food. My spinach lasagna was delicious.
After dinner Jose and me decided to hang out for a bit longer and do some night pictures. I wanted to take pictures of Downtown LA from the Sixth Street Viaduct. As we arrived on top of the bridge we met other people taking pictures and videos. From the viaduct you have a pretty good view of Downtown Los Angeles.
After I finished taking my pictures at the viaduct, Jose and me walked into Downtown Los Angeles and took more pictures. We ended up exploring the Union Station and took some great pictures.
I took the picture below inside the Union Station and due to the long exposure no people are visible. I was pretty happy about that outcome. Because right when I started my exposure the cleaning guy came and started cleaning his way towards me in a zig-zag course. Other passengers were walking by as well but they were not directly walking in front of my lens like the cleaning guy.
Union Station was our last stop and from there we walked back to our cars near our starting point that afternoon.
Peter has a passion for Traveling, Photography, and Geocaching. These are the best ingredients for amazing adventures all over the globe. “Traveling is fun, no matter if you stay in a luxury hotel or travel like a backpacker.” Peter shares his experiences on his Blog www.gatetoadventures.com
Some of Peter’s photos are published on corporate websites, in-flight magazines, travel guides, and much more.