Downtown L.A. Panorama

My final image is typically the end of the story, but sometimes what it takes for me to get the shot rises above the shot itself. This downtown L.A. scene taken at dusk is very similar to many shot by other photographers, the challenge I set for myself was to find a new angle. While driving home one morning from shooting another L.A. cityscape, I drove up and over the 110 Freeway on the Third Street onramp and saw this view and immediately thought to myself, “I have to come back another day and shoot THIS!” Using street view on Google maps I first pre-planned my best parking location, walking route to the onramp, as well as the ideal position along the onramp to give myself the best angle of the freeway below and the skyline rising behind it. Shooting this expansive scene with a wide-angle lens would have optically pushed my subject further away while reducing its scale and impact, so I decided a multiple shot panorama would be the best way to go. Shooting blue hour cityscapes is my favorite time of day to shoot and one of my favorite subjects, so technically the shooting aspect was easy, accessing this spot, setting up for the shot while trying to stay safe, not so much. This onramp bends 90º to the left as cars enter toward the north, loop up and over the freeway before then bending back southward to merge onto the freeway. I positioned myself to the inside of this onramp, on only a foot-wide curb with a tripod and myself standing on an additional foot-wide shoulder, as cars approached from around a blind corner to find a photographer set up to shoot while passing him only two feet away at 30 mph! My final image with palm trees framing downtown L.A. was a 6 shot panorama and appeared in the July/August issue of Digital Photo magazine. © Mitch Ridder Photography – All Rights Reserved 2017