Los Angeles Sidewalks

[charlie chipman]

Over the past many months I have been driving around Los Angeles taking pictures of people as they carry on about their days on the sidewalks.
Here are a few from the series that is upwards of 2000-3000 photos by now. Your thoughts are appreciated.

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[John Angulat]

Great candid images Charlie!
Jeez, I love the street! Never a dull moment and always something to shoot.
With two to three thousand images I'm seriously looking forward to this series!

 

[charlie chipman]

Thanks for your comments John.
I can assure you a very small fraction of the pictures make the final cut.
Here are a few more day time scenes

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[charlie chipman]

And a few night scenes

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[Kathy Rappaport]

Charlie - do you know about the LA River Tours?

I love street portraits too. These are fun. What are you shooting with? Not sure i'd be walking around with a Dslr near MacArthur Park.

 

[charlie chipman]

I do not know about the LA river tours.

I use the D700/24-70mm combo and they are all made from the safety of my car

 

[Daniel Schaefer]

Great shots man! love the overall look, really captures the feeling of LA

if you're on Flickr at all, i just opened up a group for local LA street shooters, and these would be great for the page

check it out if you like

http://www.flickr.com/groups/lastreetshooters/

i love the comp though, and the use of the flash is such a unique addition to traditional street shooting

 

[charlie chipman]

Thanks for your comment Daniel.
I am not on flickr anymore, I stopped using my account some time ago and recently deleted it.

The rest of the series can be found on my website under the 'sidewalks' links.

www.charliechipman.com

 

[Ken Tanaka]

A visually interesting and distinct body of images, Charlie. I strongly encourage you to continue its pursuit. I do caution you, however, to chill on the PS sliders as you're in jeopardy of sliding these from the world of pseudo-documentary street photography to cartoonish illustrations.

Onward, Charlie, onward!

 

[charlie chipman]

Thanks for your input Ken.

Would you mind elaborating on the PS?
Some of the photos I have added a toning to, is this what you are referring, to or all of them?

 

[Ken Tanaka]

Thanks for your input Ken.

Would you mind elaborating on the PS?
Some of the photos I have added a toning to, is this what you are referring, to or all of them?

The more photographic you can keep the image the more compelling they'll be as photography, rather than photographic illustrations/artwork. For example, the first four image in the series are spot-on in this regard. Clearly they're flash images captured in twilight streets. But in the last images you posted the hour may be getting late and your camera is setting its exposure based solely on the flash value, rather than including background. COnsequently the backgrounds are being crushed hard and creating a very different presentation than the earlier images.

So my suggestion is that you deal very, very carefully with the late image in PS and work to preserve more latitude, not less. You'll probably also want to spend more time studying how your particular camera negotiates with flash exposures. That's the way you can become a real master of your night universe!

Of course my suggestions might run contrary to your intentions, which is fine. Just be sure that you know who's running the show; you or your camera/software.

That's all.

 

[charlie chipman]

So if I read you right in the night scenes you would like to see more background detail as opposed to black with light streaks + what the flash hits. For what it is worth this was the way I planned for them to turn out but I see no reason why I should not try out your suggestion and keep with the consistency of the daytime scenes.

The way I am doing this is the camera is mounted to a tripod in my backseat with a flash pointing out the window and I click the shutter with a remote from the driver seat as I drive by (see below). Camera is set to f8 iso 200 and prefocused. As I drive around and the ambient light levels fade into night I lengthen the shutter speed so I can pick up more of the ambient. I try to keep the background about stop or two under exposed but when the sun goes down and the camera is still set to f8 iso 200 ambient goes black except for the lights which streak across the scene now as I drive by and the shutter is around 1/15s. I like this effect, though agree it is a departure from the daytime scenes. Next time I go out I will raise the iso instead of shortening the shutter and see how much detail I can get beyond the reach of my flash in the night scenes.


Thanks again for your input Ken.

 

[Jim Galli]

So if I read you right in the night scenes you would like to see more background detail as opposed to black with light streaks + what the flash hits. For what it is worth this was the way I planned for them to turn out but I see no reason why I should not try out your suggestion and keep with the consistency of the daytime scenes.

The way I am doing this is the camera is mounted to a tripod in my backseat with a flash pointing out the window and I click the shutter with a remote from the driver seat as I drive by (see below). Camera is set to f8 iso 200 and prefocused. As I drive around and the ambient light levels fade into night I lengthen the shutter speed so I can pick up more of the ambient. I try to keep the background about stop or two under exposed but when the sun goes down and the camera is still set to f8 iso 200 ambient goes black except for the lights which streak across the scene now as I drive by and the shutter is around 1/15s. I like this effect, though agree it is a departure from the daytime scenes. Next time I go out I will raise the iso instead of shortening the shutter and see how much detail I can get beyond the reach of my flash in the night scenes.


Thanks again for your input Ken.

Gives a whole new meaning to 'street photography'. Excellent work.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Charlie,

I really am enjoying this series. Daytime, do you use flash? I also take pictures driving past the folk here. Yours are very meaningful to me.

Asher

 

[charlie chipman]

Hi Asher.
Yes I am using a flash for all of the pictures, both day and night.
This is how I can "freeze" the scene and get reasonably sharp pictures while shooting from a moving vehicle. Of course I could try fast shutter speeds, but I am quite fond of the effect the flash provides so will stick to this.

By the way I have an extra PhotoLA book for you.
Thanks for commenting.

 

[Timothy Bearden]

Fantastic idea. Reminds me of my college work. Shots like these capture life in its crude form. It doesn't allow people enough time to react and change their facial expressions.

 

[Rachel Foster]

I can not even BEGIN to "get" how to do this type of shot. Loved them.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Charlie,

We miss your pictures! Send me the fresh links and I'll repair the thread!

Thanks,

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Charlie,

It's done! The thread is now intact again and your work does help document some areas of LA, that although are mostly friendly, might be provocative when a well heeled caucasian walks on foot with an expensive camera in their faces!

I think work like this is important as it probes part of life that most in southern California drive by, unless they live there! The folk here, especially those with prison records, are part of the workforce engine that helps drive a second powerful economy parallel to the one folk think of when look at business and life here. These are the same people who are hired at low wages and help make low cost building projects possible. they are the cooks, waiters, valets, car detailers, mechanics, frames, painters and tile layers. With their efforts, cost of housing is decreased by some 15-20% and that allows the megastores, especially hardware to flourish, even when the general economy is stressed.

So I'm personally grateful to see, albeit glimpses, of life in these neighborhoods, the homes of the people we hire to make our own lives more comfortable.

Asher

 

[Jim Dockery]

Great work, really captures the vibe. I must say I'm glad I don't hang there, but I wonder about those people and their lives on the hot sidewalks.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Thanks for your comments John.
I can assure you a very small fraction of the pictures make the final cut.
Here are a few more day time scenes

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Charlie,

I have such admiration for these pictures. You have penetrated into the day to day vibrancy of life in these streets, although, of course, your selection of images with compelling characters does give it a more dramatic feeling than ordinary findings on most corners!

Let me comment to everyone else:

This single picture is perhaps most representative what one would mostly see any evening one visited the area. Yes, there's one tough fellow with a strong attitude leaning on a fence. He might be perceived as somewhat to mildly threatening. Even that could be over reading his demeanor. However, for sure, almost all the folk here, I'd bet, are very hardworking family people who would give you the shirt of their back to help you. Still, one can't expect some welcome as if one is a tourist in Greece or London. Here there's a sense of pervasive peace but an underlying fabric of risk and respect for boundaries. So, any outsiders with a camera would likely get confronted after just a few shots. There's justifiable concern as some folk here could be undocumented workers. So there can be sense of distrust that perhaps the pictures are being taken on behalf of some investigation or even by some group that is interested in this "turf" for their own territory.

None of these pictures could have been taken, I'm my opinion, in a casual stroll, as Cem has done in Amsterdam! Perhaps a latino child with a modest digicam could get such pictures, but not many with flash! I wonder whether one could get such shots from a parked car at high ISO?

Asher