I hadn't planned where to go, I just knew that I needed to do it. My first stop was in the trenches of the LA harbor. It was the fourth time I'd slummed along in the aftermath of shadows and gigantic cranes. I'd been trying to find the wharf diner again for a parking spot. I passed by some familiar streets, turned onto some unfamiliar ones and was blinded by this field of floodlights mounted on what I thought was a railway car. I thought the thing was about to start moving. Part of me was confused about where to turn. I finally decided the middle of the road was good. Eventually I backtracked out, crawled along the spine of a freeway/motorway, and jetted out over the bridges and above liquid sky to the island nation. That railway car never even moved either.

Next stop was along Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach, the main strip, where high-rise corporate offices and trendy weekend social spots link arms like amateur lesbians. I had a feeling. I parked. I decide to feed the parking meter since I'd given up on figuring out when you did and didn't. It was a damn decent deal: a quarter for 20 minutes. At Mt. University it was 8 minutes. Not that I ever used the things at Mt. University..well, except for one time where I was rushing an experiment on the weekend--at the last minute before a Belle and Sebastian concert--and a rat gave itself a concussion, but that's another (hypothetical) post.

I ambled down the boulevard. There was a wide set of stairs I liked, called out to me, asking me to make my first stop the Arco Corp. building. I slowly walked up, in-between discreet bushes and flowers. A pedestal claimed the center of a rest area. I noticed too late that a security camera looked down at the stair opening. I figured when security came I'd play it sweet and dumb, just how they (and alot of other people I know) like 'em. Noone ever showed. Lights came off and on in a few office windows, no doubt by the hands of frustrated assistants with dead-end desperations.

Next stop was across the street within the gilded armpit of the "world trade center", or at least that's what the etching in the glass said. Personally I was paying more attention to the facade and the lighting. I thought it'd be cute to put my hat down on the curve in the gold railing. I started shooting. It took me a few snaps before I realized the hat was in the shot. Funny enough the fedora complimented the composition. I would have otherwise had a beautiful but hollow bauble (although alot of other people I know don't mind that combo).

It was around 2:45 when I finished there, but I wasn't sated. I had one last stop. I'd been wanting to get shots of this artifical lake for weeks. The problems were that: 1) Security guards patrolled the thing, which I'd learned first-hand when stumbling onto a shoot ON THE WAY to the lake. 2) This place is right next to the main street. I told myself that if I ever were out at 3am, I'd go for it.

It was about 3:30 when I got there. I was giddy at being able to use the telephoto lens. I could finally get shots that looked basically like the image coming into my eye (as opposed to shots that appeared way farther away). I got the some nice compositions, all without security showing up. In fact, it wasn't until I was doing my last several shots on the main sidewalk that one of the guards I knew made his round. He looked at me oddly for a sec then went back to his duties. He must have noticed me, but then I had my coat buttoned.

I went to bed at around 5am feeling blissful. Hadn't had such a good time since Dork was here.

The rest of my weekend was as noteworthy as what you were doing at 9:19pm fifteen wednesdays ago. There was studying, talking to Dork via phone and more grad. school planning. Only the middle one was really fetching.

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So, about that photoshoot, I've only edited one shot so far, but it's a good one:

Swank

Comment: This is the shot with the hat I mentioned earlier. I love that hat.

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