60th floor C.2007 Los Angeles, CA

6^th and Hope. I first made my acquaintance with this area en route to Garfield High after my family moved out of East L.A. It was my connecting point from the Redline (our subway) to the Eastbound line 18. A very friendly homeless Vietnam Veteran was always at this corner. He had crutches and always greeted me with a smile every morning.

The bus stop was near the corner which also happened to be near rat infested bushes. The bushes would always rattle from their movement and it was incredibly gross. Because of this the buses seemed to take even longer to arrive in the mornings. Time really is relative.

The area around that bus stop has been renovated for several years now. Its all cleaned up with places to eat and all. The rats have relocated to the bushes around Pershing Square which is about a block down the street.

I think about the friendly Vietnam Vet from time to time. I hope he eventually relocated to a place he can call home.

Reflection C.2007 Los Angeles, CA

Every time I take a walk to the Central library in downtown, I love to walk through the plaza by the Library Tower. I remember the construction of the buildings surrounding the library. I really was quite young. My elementary school wasn’t too far from downtown (Boyle and Brooklyn) so I’d see the construction of the skyscrapers pretty often. Grandma worked at a sweatshop in the fashion district so spending some time afterschool on Broadway wasn’t uncommon. When the majority of the “newer” buildings were completed, I remember looking at pictures of New York City and thinking how boring our skyline still looked. My grandma expressed her recollections of when she first arrived to this city from El Salvador in the late 60’s. She imagined Los Angeles to be this grand metropolis and essentially expected to see the New York city skyline. She was bitterly disappointed. I could only imagine… some of the older skyscrapers were completed in the 70s, well after her arrival.

I didn’t really start exploring the immediate area around the Tower until I was in high school. I’d often go to the Central library and the tower happens to be across the street. Knowing the tallest building west of the Mississippi was on my way home from school seemed insanely cool to me at the time.

As I slowly became immersed in the world of photography, I often revisited my old pockets of solitude. I enjoy taking upward shots simply because this was the same point of view I had as a 7yr old, a 17yr old, and now as a 27 yr old. I always feel incredibly small whenever I get lost in thought while I look up. Yes, smaller than usual.

This shot was selected as a finalist in Photographer’s forum magazine in 2008. The sentimental value simply made this news even sweeter.

A penny for your thoughts C. 2008 Hollywood, CA

I rarely load color film into 35mm canon but I wasn’t in school and this was the easiest way to obtain processed negatives. I don’t normally like color film because I am not in control during the processing or development…or even the printer for that matter.

I was walking along Hollywood blvd one Sunday afternoon last fall when something caught my eye. As I waited at the corner of Hollywood and Highland, a homeless man came and stood right in front of me. Lost in thought, he seemed to be debating which corner he would be crossing. As he looked to his left, I noticed a penny hanging from his headband. Quietly, I lifted my camera, focused and snapped a shot. From the looks of it, he was definitely thinking about something completely different.