Snow Week Came and Went

It was brief, but absolutely amazing!

At the beginning of the week, it poured like crazy in Los Angeles (something we’re not accustomed to) and by Wednesday morning, it had gone away, replaced by really cold, windy air.

By noon, however, it was clear that something really magical and unusual was up. L.A. looked like Denver. Or Salt Lake City, with huge snow-capped mountains that weren’t covered in smog.

I, like many other photographers, jumped in my car and started driving all over town, hoping to document these special, historic moments. And while you know me as an iPhone photographer, this assignment called for a big camera with a huge lens, my beloved Sony RX10IV, which has a monster built-in 24mm-600mm.

First, check out this above shot of the Los Angeles skyline, as viewed from Manhattan Beach, where I live, some 18 miles away. On a rare winter day, if the stars are aligned and the weather is just right, if you stand in the right place, you might be able to see downtown from the beach, specifically, from the back of an auto shop on 2nd and Sepulveda. A really long lens helps considerably, as it helped me zoom in on the skyline and make the mountains look like they’re even closer. The Sony even picked up stately City Hall, which served as the facade of the old Daily Planet building on the 1950s TV show “The Adventures of Superman.”

Now let me quickly tell you a little more about Wednesday. I drove all over L.A. searching for great snow shots. First I went to Echo Park, where you can see the skyline really well. But you don’t get mountains in the shot. So scratch that.

Next I tried Elysian Park, which worked. That’s where you can get the iconic shot of the L.A. freeway leading into the skyscrapers. Or, on a special day like this, you could turn in the other direction and watch the cars heading into snow-capped covered Pasadena.

From there, I headed to Pasadena, because the snow was heaviest there. But first, I pulled off in a little town nearby called Hermon. This street scene did not look like California!

I continued driving into Pasadena and tried photographing the historic Colorado Bridge, but I couldn’t stand in a place where the mountains could be seen behind the bridge. So now I took off back to Culver City, the home of two iconic Los Angeles skyline photographic locations, Kenneth Hahn Park and Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook.

When I pulled into the park, the gates were closed, due to tree damage, and I was waved to another spot around the corner off Stocker. That spot indeed looked great, but it had about 25 spaces and 30 cars trying to get in. There was no available parking elsewhere.

So I just started driving and driving, looking for something, hoping for an opening in-between a neighborhood home that would be perfect. Several blocks later, I finally found this great old church at the 3900 block of Don Felipe Avenue and figured if anyone would have a backyard that I could go in to snap a shot, it would be this church.

And it did. But it took some doing. There was a big wire fence. Still, I’m tall enough to hold my camera over it and get my shot. Again, thank you Sony RX10IV. I couldn’t have done it without you!

By Thursday, the snow was still there, but the skies were hazier. And even moreso on Friday. So if we don’t get heavy rain again this month, we’ll just count down to 2024 and get ready to be a little quicker out the door next year.

Jeff