Photos from Downtown Los Angeles

I'm back in Los Angeles now from traveling to cities like Toronto, San Francisco, and Chicago the past few months. I've been using 500px to research nice locations for these photos and it's really paid off-- I'm very happy.

If you haven't noticed, I've been pushing my 500px account for my photos. I'll have a separate blog post on that soon too, once a print I ordered arrives so I can give it a more thorough review. What I really like is that I get a 35% discount for ordering my own prints, which makes sense since they're mine. But some friends/family have been asking me what print material they should go for-- again, I'll give my thoughts on that in a future blog post.

I recently bought a shutter release remote cable for my DSLR. Specifically, it's the SMDV Remote Shutter Release Cable. So far, it's been really good. It holds in place well and does what it's supposed to.

I'm starting to do more long exposures now and and less HDR shots. I'm finding that I like there to be lit and unlit sections to a photo or piece of art. I don't need the dark areas to be super detailed and lit up. That's my quick thought.

Here are my photos:

Downtown Los Angeles
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Los Angeles Skyline from LADWP
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More city and landscape photos from the past few months:

• Photos from Chicago's Adler Planetarium
• Photos from Chicago's Bean
• Photos from Chicago's John Hancock Observatory
• Photos from San Francisco
• Photos from Toronto

Photos from Chicago's Adler Planetarium

This is my last of three posts covering the three landmarks I visited in Chicago during this past winter. My first was of Chicago's John Hancock Observatory and the other was of Chicago's Bean.

The last landmark I visited was of a sunset from Chicago's Adler Planetarium. I visited the Adler before and took pictures there-- but this was all when I first started to get into some HDR and photography. The blog post is still up here. Please don't judge me too harshly on those old photos.

This sunset trip was fun to be on as the weather in Chicago was warming up and the snow was melting a bit. But there was still plenty of ice along the lake. I wasn't able to venture close to the lake as it was a very real possibility of slipping and falling right into Lake Michigan.

You can view my full album from Chicago here.

Chicago Winter Sunset
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Chicago from the Adler Planetarium
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Chicago Skyline - Peace
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Photos from Chicago's Bean

I was in Chicago for nearly three weeks during the holidays. I only planned to be there with my parents/family for about two weeks, but the snow, friends, and family all kept me from leaving-- so I ended up rebooking my flight TWICE.

During my extensive stay in Chicago, I visited a few landmarks to take some pictures.

I wrote a blog post covering my photos from John Hancock Observatory already.

One of my first stops was a sunrise of Cloud Gate, also commonly referred to as "The Bean". What I love about morning shots, especially on weekends, is that there's barely anyone there. Plus it certainly helped that it was winter! And for the most part it was rather desolate, but there was a couple there doing engagement shots with a photographer. They certainly had some guts to take off their jackets that morning!

You can view my full album from Chicago here.

The Winter Bean
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A closer shot of Cloud Gate


A wide angle shot of Chicago from Randolph St.

Photos from San Francisco

I was up in San Francisco in late November and early December last year. It was a very last minute trip, but one I wanted to do for such a long time. I've always wanted to get some shots of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge in SF-- without any fog. My prior visits have always been foggy and I could never see the full bridge.

Well, this trip was somewhat dedicated to visiting the bridge several times to get some shots-- to which I was finally able to get some shots without fog. You can view the full album here.

Here are some of my favorite shots:

Foggy Night
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Golden Gate Bridge's Fog
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Golden Gate Bridge Sunrise
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Golden Gate Bridge's Clear Night
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Photos from Toronto

Last year I did some traveling in October and November. In late October, I went to Toronto for the first time. The city is beautiful there. I've probably been in Los Angeles too long, but I noticed how clear the skies were and was astonished to look at buildings with no haze in front. It really showcases how LA is such a polluted and dirty city.

While I was there I got a chance to see Ai Weiwei's Forever Bicycle exhibit. I can't believe there are 3,144 bicycles in the sculpture. It is quite mesmerizing though. I took some night photos there, that you can see the album here.

I also visited the very so colorful, Kensington Market. Pictures can be found here.

And my general photos from Toronto can be found here.

The biggest thing I wanted to leave Toronto with was pictures of their skyline. Which I did. It was a bit cold out there and I did suffer a bit in the cold to get some long exposures done. Normally I would do some HDR shots, but I found long exposures to produce more interesting results with the colors running across the water.

Here are three of my favorites of the Toronto skyline.

Toronto Skyline
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Good Night, Toronto
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Toronto Skyline Colors
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I hope to return in the near future to take some more photos there. Toronto reminds me so much of Chicago-- clean, big, metropolitan, yet also suburban-like, with some of the most friendliest people around. My biggest praise for the city is that it has some delicious Chinese food there-- way better than Chicago's! I could almost live there if it weren't for all the funny money they use up there-- just kidding, I love Toronto.

Photos from Chicago's John Hancock Observatory

Last night I went to visit the John Hancock Observatory with my sister. The last time I was there was in 2006 I think, somewhat a long time ago. I recall the views from JH being far superior to those from the Sears tower-- now called Willis tower. Plus I've seen some pictures on 500px taken from JH and wanted to try my hand at those views.

Signature Room or Observatory?

I did some research before going and read that Signature Lounge is the better place to visit than the observatory deck. As many pointed out, the lounge/bar area is free to enter, but there is a one drink minimum per person, which can be expensive since all their drinks are expensive. It's like $5+ for a soda! Since I was with my sister, we ended up paying $21 for drinks.

But after visiting Signature Lounge, I was somewhat disappointed. It does have great views of the south, west, and north side of JH, but it's a lounge with people sitting/talking everywhere! There's very little room to set up your gear for long exposures. I don't believe they allow tripods, so I brought my gorillapod with me for small, quick setups that isn't a fire hazard. I use a Joby GP3 GorillaPod SLR-Zoom Flexible Tripod + BH1 Ball Head. Not to mention that their windows are pretty dirty because it is an eating/drinking area.

I recommend paying the $18 for the observation deck. I went on a Wednesday night during a cold winter when it was very quiet. There was plenty of room for me to set up my stuff and maneuver around. Also, as a big big plus, the railing and heater were great for placing the GorillaPod right next to the window!

Verdict: If you want to do more serious photography, go with the Observatory. Signature Lounge is nice if you just want to hang out with a view.

Problem solving the Observatory deck

Although the observatory is better than Signature Lounge for photography, it's not a cake walk. What many don't realize is that there's so much lighting inside at night that reflects off the windows-- effectively ruining a clean shot of the city of Chicago.

I took probably close to 100 shots before I realized what I needed to do to work around this.

1. Use a DSLR + GorillaPod setup as close to the window as possible.
2. I used my coat and asked my sister to use her coat to block the light from bouncing off the window by surrounding the DSLR with the coats. Maybe a black or dark blanket would be nice next time.
3. I removed my UV lens filter from my camera to further reduce any unwanted light bouncing around.
4. Get a second hand-- a friend/family member to help out. Trying to block out the reflected light on your own may be difficult.

And of course, have fun. I wasn't ashamed at all about squatting down on my hands and knees to reposition my rig and try for the best shot. I'm sure that on future visits I could get some better shots with different weather and lighting conditions that's far beyond my control.


Below are my pictures. They were all on taken on a GorillaPod on my Canon 5D Mark III with a Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L II lens. They're all HDR photos, edited in Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop.

Chicago Winter at John Hancock
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West of John Hancock
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Lake Shore Drive from John Hancock
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Navy Pier from John Hancock


*Small update*
This is what my initial setup was like at the observatory. My DSLR was on a gorillapod with my coat on the railing trying to block out the light reflecting.