CityScapes

[z_photo]

hi richard. those are different views of phoenix. cool. i bet it was far from cool under the dark cloth in summertime phoenix!

[Richard M. Coda]

Z_Photo... it's not too bad. I go early Sunday mornings, usually ready to photograph by 6:30 AM. There's also no people, which is a bonus. It's amazing, the 5th largest city in the US seems almost deserted Sunday mornings.

[Miguel Coquis]

Midnight promenating around l'Ile de St. Louis-Paris center (one o'clock in the morning).
3x4 speed graphic
Schneider 120 mm f:2
exposure 45 chimpanzees:-)
dev N-2

[Hector.Navarro]

Downtown Los Angeles
Sinar-P 8x10
210mm Sironar-S f32 2 min

Hello Edwin,

great image! I just checked your webpage and to say the least I am astounded by the urban landscape that you have made, it is great. Congratulations!

I have made a few exposures of my local urban landscape (Hermosillo, Mexico), without much success. How do you deal with carrying expensive equipment downtown at night?


greetings

[Edwin Beckenbach]

Hello Edwin,

great image! I just checked your webpage and to say the least I am astounded by the urban landscape that you have made, it is great. Congratulations!

I have made a few exposures of my local urban landscape (Hermosillo, Mexico), without much success. How do you deal with carrying expensive equipment downtown at night?

greetings

Hello Hector,
Thanks for the compliment. It makes me feel better. I took some cityscapes into a local gallery today looking for a venue and was told that "anybody can do that".

As for using expensive equipment downtown all I can say is that you have to take certain risks to get some shots. You can either not work in less safe environments or try to do whatever you can to minimize the risk. I almost always plan my shots ahead of time so I can do my scouting during the day without any equipment and then return when the time is right with no more equipment than I need. I often bring a friend who is bigger than I am. I am generally finished shooting 30 minutes after sunset when there is still a good deal of regular foot traffic and so I don't feel like a total target. I also keep an eye on LAPD crime statistics and try to stay educated on gang culture and their territories. There are some areas that are to risky for me to even consider.

I also think that a large camera is an object of curiosity so people are too busy wondering what it is I'm doing to think about mugging me.

Here's the last one I did from East LA. While I was set up waiting for the right ambient lighting a guy pulls up on a motorcycle and asks me for directions to Inglewood. The directions were a bit complicated so it took a while. In the meantime a really scary looking dude walked up the block and checked us out and then went back down to the next corner. I think he thought I was selling drugs on his turf but when he saw that I was minding my own business he lost interest.

September 4th, Sinar P, 360mm Fujinon-A, Velvia 100F, f22 2min

[shmoo]

Gordon - Looks like a view of SD from the Coronado side...?

[Shailendra]

Hello Hector,
Thanks for the compliment. It makes me feel better. I took some cityscapes into a local gallery today looking for a venue and was told that "anybody can do that".

As for using expensive equipment downtown all I can say is that you have to take certain risks to get some shots. You can either not work in less safe environments or try to do whatever you can to minimize the risk. I almost always plan my shots ahead of time so I can do my scouting during the day without any equipment and then return when the time is right with no more equipment than I need. I often bring a friend who is bigger than I am. I am generally finished shooting 30 minutes after sunset when there is still a good deal of regular foot traffic and so I don't feel like a total target. I also keep an eye on LAPD crime statistics and try to stay educated on gang culture and their territories. There are some areas that are to risky for me to even consider.

I also think that a large camera is an object of curiosity so people are too busy wondering what it is I'm doing to think about mugging me.

Here's the last one I did from East LA. While I was set up waiting for the right ambient lighting a guy pulls up on a motorcycle and asks me for directions to Inglewood. The directions were a bit complicated so it took a while. In the meantime a really scary looking dude walked up the block and checked us out and then went back down to the next corner. I think he thought I was selling drugs on his turf but when he saw that I was minding my own business he lost interest.

September 4th, Sinar P, 360mm Fujinon-A, Velvia 100F, f22 2min

Beatiful work, Edwin. I too admire your site and am glad you take precautions especially around some of the neighborhoods you work in. What do you meter on to take some of your shots on your website?

[Edwin Beckenbach]

Beatiful work, Edwin. I too admire your site and am glad you take precautions especially around some of the neighborhoods you work in. What do you meter on to take some of your shots on your website?

It depends on the situation. Most of what I've been doing lately is using ambient light balanced with the artificial lights in a single exposure. I've done quite a few double exposures in the past which is a bit more complicated. For the single exposures I just meter off the sky. I did tests to find out what exposure works well for the artificial lights and then I spot meter the sky until it is dark enough. That can be a bit tricky depending on what effect you're going for and whether you are metering off the blue or the orange/yellow in the sky (in which case you need to overexpose by as much as two stops). I generally meter off the blue sky with no compensation which gives a rich blue that isn't too dark. You can overexpose by a stop to produce a more daytime look or underexpose by a stop for a really deep dark nighttime look.

I think metering the sky is always a good idea if it's in the frame because it is easy to visualize what it will look like considering any exposure compensation you might need or choose to use.

[Allen in Montreal]

........ I took some cityscapes into a local gallery today looking for a venue and was told that "anybody can do that".


..........September 4th, Sinar P, 360mm Fujinon-A, Velvia 100F, f22 2min

Ya, I bet 50 people a day shoot that very same picture on their i Phone and it looks just the same!

Did you smack him in the head with a film holder?

[Hector.Navarro]

thank you for the tips Edwin.
''anybody can..." yeah sure