remedy's photoblog

jazz man of glendale, originally uploaded by usclabdog.

i wanted to do some night street photography in downtown LA, but i got scared when i saw where i was heading to, its along broadway between the 4th and 6th street (its all because of this guy's tips of where he did most of his recent street shots). it was around 930pm after i got off work and eventhought ive been a transplanted Filipino in LA for almost 11 years, i am really not familiar with the downtown area. i hate those one way streets and i still remember the first time i got lost in figueroa and 2nd street where i almost drove on a wrong way traffic street, from then on i tried to avoid downtown LA as much as i can. and to make it more exciting ,i forgot to fill up before i went to work that day so i was trying to look for a gas station along broadway, i saw a chevron but theyre always more expensive so skipped it. by the time i was crossing 2nd street i was already getting nervous because broadway doesnt look like broadway anymore,( it feels like im about to cross the river styx), but then i saw a valerio gas station by the corner of 3rd street so i made a quick left and was idling up next to the gas pump when i realised that im the only one there and these two big scary looking guys. one of them was this man whose hood of his windbreaker covers his head and i couldnt see the outline of his face, his shoukders leaning against the wall, as if waiting for something or someone ( which could be me/?), he was smoking heavily and the smoke was backlighted by the streetlamp behind him.. well , i love photography and call me a chicken its okay too, i went back to chinatown.

PART 2

ok, i almost forgot the story of this picture because of that adventure. i ended up getting ripped off by the gas station on hill and college street, the price they posted up, the big signs with the flouscent lights inside? theyre not the real price, the real price is the one at the bottom which i think was made of cardboard and the lettering was done using a big black sharpee. if you pay cash, theyll charge that price thats posted on their big streetsign , but if you pay by credit card or debit theyll charge you the price that was handwritten on that small signboard which is like 35 cents more per gallon?. well im not exactly sure how much,and since i always use my debit card all the time it was automatic for me to use it. i already had my tank full before i noticed the sign .

Part 3

well my wife is off tomorrow and i work the pm shift anyways ,so here i am, wasting my time here. im usually lazy to put any captions , but i was probably juiced up by that experience so i wanted to write it before it fades into my memory.

finally, i decided to go home. but it was saturday night and by the time i got to glendale it was only 1030 pm. i made a sidetrip to the americana , took some pictures there, was told by a security guard that photography is not allowed on private property, but isnt americana a mall? a shopping center? so if its a private property , why are people allowed to shop and dine and watch movies there?what about those people with point and shoot and camera phones?.

so i went out of the americana and went to brand, there was a moment where there were no sounds of vehicles and i heard these music floating all the way to the in and out burger restaurant across from the borders bookstore. it was past eleven and there was not a lot traffic, the melancholic sound of his music was like a stranger that i havent seen, it was bouncing off the walls of the nearby buildings. it was like there were those cube speakers inside that instrument. i approached him and asked if i could take pictures of him, he said "go ahead." i complimented him on his music and asked him what hes doing there since he is that good. " i like playing music and i like the people of glendale, they been really nice to me" he said. i stayed around for awhile and since it was already late , i gave him a 5 and left.