LA Long Walk, Part 1
Want to come on a long walk through Los Angeles with me? The following shots are what I refer to as my GoPro stills, feeling perhaps a little too trigger happy in taking far too many shots along the way wondering why perhaps I just don't stick a GoPro somewhere on my head and be done with it. Is it being greedy for moments, grabbing the here, there, everywhere, everything and everyone in my path that is a sure sign of photographic weakness? Perhaps, but what I do know is that downtown LA is changing at the rate of real estate knots with dusty vacant lots becoming building sites in no time while some of the faded glories of old LA are finally getting the love they have been denied for so long. Enough of the talk, let's get on with the walk and maybe one day soon here we shall reach the fabled Los Angeles River. In the real time of this long day I did make it to the river and a little beyond. It was hot, it was dirty and dusty but somehow it didn't matter. There was after all plenty of company along the way. This part of the walk begins at the Central Library in downtown LA with a quick sprint through Pershing Square and the Jewellery District before heading east, far east in a straight line all the way along 7th Street until just before we reach the river. Let's go!
Downtown Central Library
Morning sun near Central Library
Pershing Square
Park Central
“You need some change?”
Apparently I was standing near a parking meter, Mauricio thought he could help me out.
James
We Sell Diamonds
Noelle
Jeffrey, doing everything he can to get into modeling and film. He has some great shots to show and I hope he goes far!
Marilyn will keep you warm.
The face edging left of frame was heard to say “What the *&% is all that#”?
and on her way to who knows where.
I can’t resist a strong white hat.
Jeremie, Superintendent for Skid Row Housing Trust
Darlene, Skid Row Housing Trust
Felizia, Skid Row Housing Trust
Fernando, Skid Row Housing Trust
7th Street Produce Market
Workers at the 7th Street Produce Market. Having made it this far without being told no I kept going . . .
Antonio
Piling it up, 7th Street Produce Market.
The universal language of a smile when words are spoken in different languages.
Final shot of the produce market before Security finally caught up with me . . . The market has been in the news lately for poor hygiene practices but I was unaware of this then. I was welcome to apply at the nearby office for a photo permit but I shall save that for next time.
A rushed post and maybe with some more careful editing we might have made it to the river sooner than this but then what is a destination without the journey? Hope you join me for Part 2, week-end wishes to all!
I had to laugh at your GoPro comment and the picture of it being worn on your head 😀 Enjoyed taking the tour with you – you certainly met some interesting characters along the way who each added spice to your story! Looking forward to the next installment.
Love the journey, Patti. Beautiful shots.
You really get people to engage with you Patti……great shots!
Great pictures
A colorful stroll. Your portraits are fantastic. I wish I would have explored more of downtown LA when I lived in LA.
Don’t cracking shots here
Wonderful photographic series Patti. You’re ability to engage with people is amazing.
“What the *&% is all that#”? That’s what I’d have said if you were wearing a gopro. Your stills photography is a pleasure to see. 🙂
So LA! You certainly had an interesting day with many fascinating sites. Thanks for taking me on your journey! XO
You have an eye for the right moment in Street Photography. It is not only sharing images it is more telling a colorful and untold story. Great.
Have a nice weekend too
Stefan
“…it is more telling a colorful and untold story…”: exactly!
You have captured quite some characters, Patti; great set!
good series, I like it.
robert
i love the way you capture and let me see life in LA!
What a mixture! Looks like you had fun and met some interesting people. 🙂
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I felt i travelled on your shoulder the whole journey. James has a poetic sadness about him. My favourite shot.
Californians love their tats! Cool photos!
A thoughtful journey that makes us the audience engage with these images and to look again at the people and their lives…..many thanks Patti
i agree as everyone writes of being ‘engaged’…as i look at your captures of the people with their names…and your narrative running along side i feel a sense of intimacy…a warmth while showing the ‘real’…lovely post lots for me see and learn from…thanks for sharing.
Life can be too hard. So sorry that this also is valid for the rich countries. Interesting document.
Excellent! The guy with the tattoo and clouded eye really caught me.
Love the way you connect with the people, Patti. Great shots – I love it that you didn’t edit – it adds to the feeling that we’re being taken along with you. Looking forward to part two!
hi Patti, I like your fascinating portrait gallery very much! Noelle’s face is a little bit similar to my daughter – but my daughter has no tattoos – she is a successful banker; mysterious: the school on wheels. I believe Stephen Baum / bumbastories, wordpress, he organizes social support in LA, for sure he could tell more about the struggle, living in L.A. without any success…
related: http://bumbastories.wordpress.com/
Frizz,
I was working with homeless mentally ill on the other side of town. What a country. I quit/retired three weeks ago after very gratifying career. The work goes on.
Thank you Frizz and wonderful to meet you Bumba. I’m certainly not telling you anything you don’t know already after your wonderful career and, as you say, the work goes on. Again, a big thank you!
Thank you for the thank you.
You’re welcome!
Love the people you found on your walk! I’m not sure I would have felt comfortable enough to shoot them but I’m glad you were!
Thank you Emilio, we all have our different comfort zones which somehow collect and add up to the whole picture.
It just gets better and better, your work! Photographic weakness for not being more discriminating? i don’t think so. It’s your style – you take in a lot, through your eyes and camera, and you give back a lot, too. It works for you. (But that’s a funny nickname for the tendency to click and click and click). Some favs – Morning Sun, Pershing Square, James, Noelle, Workers at 7th St. Looking forward to take II Patti!
I so appreciate your coming along, thank you so much Lyn!
Oh my…..talk about candid shots.
Thank you Margie.
Thank you for sharing your photographs and view point, That’s really a different perpective of a developed countries… it’s not far off Delhi without the history….
Thank you Nina. I guess the one reality of life is its imperfections, we all have them, wherever we live.
Absolutely fantastic set of portraits and street views – particularly love the shots of Mauricio and James. I actually donate to a charity called Orbis who speciallise in cataract removal – looks like James would benefit from their help but he’d need to move to Africa or India to get it! That shot of Felizia works well because she’s got her eyes closed – brings so much life to the photo by making me guess what she is telling you! 🙂
Thank you Martin, well done on your charitable work, great to have you along here as ever.
Nice going Patti– really good series.
Thank you John, all part of an ongoing, maybe never-ending, series.
Great shots. Noelle has some serious ink!!
She does indeed, thank you Cardinal.
Wow – thank you so much for taking us with you for this walk. We don’t know LA, but this is what we imagine when we read LA detective novels or think about a current LA noir scene. You really capture the time and place.
You have a new, and wonderful, place to explore DW.
You certainly did have a lot of company along the way. Great street photography!
Great company the whole way, thank you Angeline!
Sure, I would love to do it anytime. A walk through LA would be very refreshing.
Patti, this is profound work. What were your emotions as you were shooting? What thoughts filled your head?
Allan, thank you so much for asking . . . . it was such a mix of emotions and thoughts that are still working their way through my head and am finding it very difficult to talk about in a a few brief sentences. At one level I see older homeless people who have survived so much, then I see the younger kids who could be mine and you want to scream at them, take them home, show them their youth while they still have it then Jeremie kindly asks me if I would be interested in doing some work for them – photographing the newborn babies. . . . So much more I want to say, working on it!
I love your honesty, in truth most of the people who blog live in a sort of ivory tower, in Los Angeles West side people commonly brag of never going to Downtown, and the more well to do boast of never going east after La Brea, or Fairfax, etc On one occasion a lady told me she never been beyond Westwood Blvd! Talk about the compartmentalization of a city, were living in the Westside has little in common to life in Downtown, or East of it, not too long ago at a restaurant a group of people at a near by table were mocking a young woman, who very likely in order to save money on rent moved to Montebello, a perfectly fine community whose only sin it’s to be located East of Downtown, you got no idea how that snobbish attitude infuriates me!
Despite the gentrification of Downtown through the last 20 years in your pictures can see the raw Los Angeles, for over a decade since the mid eighties to late 90s I was a regular visitor of Downtown, my car was vandalized so many times, I can’t even remember! From smash windows, to the stealing of my battery, radio, or my spare tire, even making a point of not letting anything visible on my car, my fellow friends with who I attended a class on a place east of Little Tokyo between Alameda near Santa Fe St. suffered the same fate.
Remember Main St. and surrounding avenues to be a veritable city of the homeless! At a time when i was temporarily without a vehicle for about a couple of months, having to walk after 10:00PM all the way to Figueroa in order to catch a bus, on lonely, dark streets, inhabited by the homeless, and crack users at the time, talk about living dangerously, fortunately I never come to harm.
Some of your picture bring vivid memories of those days, and are a the same time a political testament to the dark side of America most people choose to ignore, or be a snob about it.
Thank you for your great commentary and personal take on the Downtown LA facts of life, so sorry to hear about your poor car. There was so much of that about then . . . when you were last there? Interesting to see your take on some of the changes as DTLA becomes a more popular place to live. Urban Outfitters has even taken hold of one of the picture palaces on Broadway. I read somewhere online that downtown was the 5th most dangerous part of LA meaning there are four more worse places – Westlake, Lancaster, Hollywood and finally in #1, Compton. Downtown, it’s just out there for all to see, the good and the bad.
Thank you for taking us along Patti. Your portraits are compelling. I love that you know the names of so many of your subjects!
You are very kind, thank you Madhu!
Wow, I am impressed by the fact you walked in LA, great shots
The best way to see LA! You would be right at home in downtown LA, it is such a dynamic, vibrant part of town with everyone a big part of the community there.
Cross section of how many Americans are living or is it existing?
Powerful visuals … No words needed!!!!
Great post !!
I love your blog! Amazing pictures. And yup … that’s LA all right. 🙂 Tweeting this now 🙂
Beautiful captures of beautiful people.
You have found some handsome characters Patti. Excellent shots as always 🙂
Thank You for this nice walk thru Your gorgeous photos. It was also face study.