A couple of weeks  ago, good friend, Pilot-Bill was visiting with camera so we wandered off one afternoon to Downtown Los Angeles for a little photo shoot.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry, has become an iconic building in the Los Angeles Skyline and a must-shoot for any visiting photographer!  I guess I've photographed it at least a half-dozen times since it has been built.  Each time was different, fun, and difficult.  The difficulties steming from the stainless steel covering that acts like a big reflector causing hot spots on any direct light falling on it. 

This time we shot in mid-afternoon light to "golden hour light" but the skies were bald (a term meaning a clear blue sky with no clouds). There was some good news ... I found a new spot that gave an un-obstructed view of the building ... the top of a parking lot structure!

This first shot is from there:

And, I got some interesting shots from the South end of the Parking lot.  Here's two of  my favorite buildings in a complex called the Californian Plaza:

In this horizontal shot of the plaza, I'm facing South into the direction of the sun which caused the skies to be "blown out."  Normally, I wouldn't like the situation but in this case, it accentuated the colors of the buildings:

We walked around the Disney Hall.  I concentrated on taking shots of the form of the building that had some interesting light:

My favorite image is this 5 image composite of the southern portion of the building.  The building was so bright that if I exposed for the lighter areas the dark areas would be in black ... and if I exposed for the darker areas, the brighter areas would be totally white with not detail.  The solution is to take 5 images each one exposed for a range of light and then stack them together in Photoshop.  The image was then converted to black and white. The sky was taken to "almost" black ala a style used by Ansel Adams in some of his landscapes.

After time out for a coffee, we wondered around Bunker Hill a little more.  I took this interesting image of a building floating inside another:

And took this last image of the Disney Hall from directly across the street as the light began fading.  It is  similar to the first image but taken from the street level and with very different light:

Prior to the 1970's, Los Angeles didn't have much of a skyline.  That began to change as new construction methods allowed for Earthquake protection.  If  you like architecture, it is a must for any LA trip!

Enjoy you holiday season, and I wish you best for 2014!

Adam

P.S. Don't forget to click on any image to see a larger view.