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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

I was shooting at the Santa Paula Citrus Classic Balloon Festival during their sunrise group flight, watching as this Humpty Dumpty balloon slowly inflated and began to rise up from the grass, when off to my left, a young girl standing with her parents, suddenly took off running with the uncontrollable urge to squeeze Humpty’s nose. Still one of my favorite spur of the moment, right time right place shots I have ever taken. © Mitch Ridder Photography – All Rights Reserved 2017

Friends can sometimes lead to special opportunities. Shooting a vintage airplane after hours on the tarmac of Chino Airport can only happen through friends and their connections. Friends like photographer Mike Hutchinson and his brother-in-law Les Whittlesey, the owner and pilot of this gleaming Lockheed Electra 12. Mike, another photographer friend Hugh Foster and I set out to catch some late afternoon golden hour, sunset and blue hour images, with the owner also requesting we try to capture his moving props as frozen discs – lighting would be the key. While working with three strobes and shooting some test shots, we were still not getting the look we wanted. The fix? Position Hugh’s car at a three-quarter angle to the Electra and then turn on it’s headlights, that was the finishing touch! © Mitch Ridder Photography – All Rights Reserved 2017