Daily Photo – The Starlight in Downtown Los Angeles
I’ve been to downtown LA many times, and there are many good angles, but I think this one is just about one of the best. There was a lot of waiting around, however. I had to wait for big busses to pass me on either side so I could set up for the long exposure.
Usually, I’ll take 5 exposures in these situations, but I do something a little special. I’ll take the quicker exposures right away (often 1 or 2 seconds). And then I’ll pause and wait for a bus or something before taking the longer exposures. I create the HDR then mask in the tail lights from the photos where I get the best trails.
I haven’t been to LA since Covid… man it’s really changed quite a bit. I listen to the Tim Dillon podcast a lot (one of my faves – not for the faint of heart!) – but he has the funniest things to say about LA. Anyway, I took this one, I think, following a photowalk, after the USA bus tour of 13 cities… what a fun evening that was in Santa Monica!
I’ll be in LA for the week soon… should be a fun time. Catching up with old friends and some art collectors. Also working on some cool Machine Elf stuff. If you haven’t seen the latest Machine Elf fractal creations, be sure to check out the-machine-elf.com.
This image was from a fun day with some friends a few years back in LA. I was there for some work for a collector of my Fine Art and was able to have an impromptu photo shoot with some friends at the collector’s house. This is Sacha, and over there in the background you can see Century City surrounded by the flatness that is LA. (I also remember we recorded this afternoon in 360 for Passport subscribers, so if you saw that back then you got a peek behind the scenes of this awesome home.)
Here’s a behind the scenes shot of an action-packed recording session for an at the time unreleased production, Sage and Milo… or as it went on to be known, Superman vs Batman…
What a crazy couple of days! Those of you who read the last newsletter or some recent posts will know that I launched a new collection of NFTs on OpenSea this past Tuesday. It’s my fourth drop overall after some experimentation previously on Foundation, MakersPlace and another on OpenSea. They were all great learning experiences (and exceeded expectations) and this week was no different.
The short version is that in 2 days, split over the 50 Cities/NFTs in the collection, over $1million USD was processed. My thanks to any of you who got involved, it’s really incredible and we are full of gratitude. Today, along with there being some items still available on the first and secondary markets, there are 4 auctions ending (LA, Moscow, Tokyo and Paris) if you want to get involved in the fun.
As I’ve mentioned in previous mails, I think NFTs are certainly something artists and collectors should be getting involved with now. The potential is huge, and I think it will be a big part of the art world in the future. That, along with giving back to other artists, is why I’m now investing in other NFT projects. I know it can be a bit daunting though, so I’ll be producing a bunch of how-to videos and recaps of my experience so far for Passport Subscribers. There are already 3 or 4 available which can be viewed after signing up ($9.99 a month, cancel any time, and on top of those NFT videos you get access to all of my tutorials to stream, preset downloads, eBooks and a weekly video which can be anything from processing tips to behind the scenes of helicopter rides in 360.). Once you’re in there, check this page for quick links to the previous NFT videos.
In terms of getting yourself involved in this drop… it’s fairly simple. You’ll need an electronic wallet (MetaMask is one that works with most NFT sites, others are available so definitely read some comparison articles). You’ll also want a way to get Crypto in/out from the “real world” and services like Coinbase are used for that (again, there are alternatives so do a bit of reading to see what’s best for you). If you’ve got questions, drop into my new Discord collectors group where there are a bunch of awesome, friendly people who will be happy to help. Feel free to join and just lurk or chat too as you ease yourself into this wild new world as a collector or creator.
*On re-reading this I just realised I automatically #’d NFT… too much posting on Crypto Twitter. Time to go take a solo lockdown walk…
Here’s a pretty cool perspective of LA. You can get this photo by climbing around up in the Hollywood Hills until you can find gaps and openings to get new perspectives on the city. This is the area where my agent at CAA works. If my agent is reading this, then she is welcome to do a lot more agenting for me! 🙂
It’s not easy to get back here to get these shots. There’s a ton of security here now, so you really have to have a connection to get behind the fence. Luckily, my friend Caleb made a friend up there after he got caught sneaking around to get photos. I don’t know how the hell he got up here because it’s actually wicked-steep!
Here is a new documentary I’m really enjoying… check out the trailer and go watch it at https://becomingnobody.com.
Daily Photo – Los Angeles with Brandin Cooks
The last time I went to LA, I had a fun day with Brandin Cooks to head out to downtown to take some cool photos in some favorite spots. Brandin played for the Rams at the time and he has a super nice car, as you might imagine. We were pretty worried about parking it random spots in downtown LA that we might get attacked or something. I wasn’t worried… I figure I had Brandin to protect me! 🙂
