Mortensen,
Try to look official when photographing the places you have listed. Wear a safety, bright orange or green, vest and if possible a hard hat. If you look like you are supposed to be there, you won't get bothered as much. If an official vehicle approaches you, just smile and wave.
Jose
I can not comment with absolute certainty on the safety of the locations that you have chosen, but in general terms, they are safe to someone who is sensitive to their surroundings. The 110 south at the 105, perhaps the most interesting, would be, in my opinion the most difficult of the interchanges to photograph. Please know that law enforcement officials do not typically understand the artistic appeal of someone photographing a freeway overpass. Also, I know the 10/71/210 interchange quite well and while I would not expect that you would encounter any problems, the neighborhood directly south, Pomona is one that is known for criminal activities. The enclave of homes that butts up against the 10 at the 71 is one that is an extremely high risk area. Most likely, in the early morning you will not have any problems, but even so, I would take the typical precautions of not leaving anything in the car and if you do need to leave something in the trunk, to only open the trunk, in a location, that is far removed from from where you are parking the car.
Best of luck
"We work in the dark, we do what we can, we give what we have."
Henry James
Thanks again, all of you - I had a good trip and had two good days of shooting. No problems at all, apart from being stranded in the foothills a couple of hours because of car crash in front of me (I wasn't inflicted, though).
Vinny, a big thanks for the tip on the 5/14, undoubtedly the best locations of all of them! I'm not sure I can match your shot, but I certainly blew some negs in that area. I hope you don't mind a bit of plagiarism...
Interesting, how absolutely everything is fenced in and heavily signposted. It is surprisingly little of your vast city that is actually accessible! It is a lot easier in China and India to get access to locations... Who'd'a'thunk?
If you are on Caltrans ROW on a freeway without an access permit, they can confiscate your equipment. Stay off the roads, and stay behind guard rails and walls. Trying to look offical can cause more problems with Caltrans than just feigning ignorance and not looking official.Originally Posted by joselsgil
My advice comes from personal experience. While working on the side of the freeway 10/710 in East L.A. My co-worker and I managed to cause a small traffic jam when five CHP officers stopped by to see what we were doing. We were legit and had a permit to work in the area.
One CHP officer suggested that we get a "men working" sign, and that way Cal Trans or CHP, would for the most part, not stop and question us. It worked like a charm
... I never intended to work on the road - just next to it. But most freeway areas were fenced off. Again, the 5/14 was great - and accessible.
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