
Light, Shades, Sunset Boulevard





From The Park Plaza’s Wikipedia page:
Though the neighborhood has gone through a period of urban decay and now urban renewal, the building, replete with angels at every corner, has lost none of its ethereal beauty and elan, making it truly one of the classic examples of Claude Beelman’s architecture left standing in the modern world. The building is now vacant, mainly used as a rental for movie shoots and special events, however, the City of Los Angeles thought the architecture significantly important enough to warrant a City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department Historic-Cultural Monument No. 267, as far back as the early 1980s. This is significant in that many other Wilshire Boulevard area landmarks fell prey to the wrecking ball during that time period, such as the notable Brown Derby. Luckily, despite the demolition of important landmarks all around it, the grand entrance and ballroom of the Elk’s No. 99 / Park Plaza building still bears its old “jazz age” grandeur, much to the relief of Los Angeles architectural aficionados. The elaborate interior murals and decorative paintings were designed and executed by Anthony Heinsbergen and Co, noted painter of many Los Angeles cultural landmarks. The central design of the lobby ceiling is based on the Villa Madama, a Renaissance era project by Raphael and Giulio Romano.














Despite the name of this blog, my favorite camera lens is Leica’s legendary 50mm 2.0 Summicron. I think both the 50 and the 35 Crons are the bomb. The reason I own and shoot the 50’Lux is because of the additional capability of the f1.4 and the beautiful ‘special’ effects of shootings the lens wide-open or even at f1.7.
I highlight the word ‘special’ because the ability to shoot a lens at 1.4 and take for granted great sharpness and color and contrast AND beautiful lush bokeh is to give your photography almost a special effect capability.
But as you can see from the image above, the 50 ‘Cron, despite the gripes sometimes heard about a busy bokeh, is no slouch in producing almost the same special effect of a razor sharp subject and a wonderfully bokeh-licious background. And don’t even ask about color and contrast at f2. My reading of LFI magazine down through the years tells me that Leica considers their Summicron lenses to be without compromise; perfect in every way. I agree.
My 50 ‘Cron is one of the Canadian jobs. Probably 18 or so years old. I picked it up at BelAir camera for the laughable price of $475. Grab one if you can find it.
Oh, yes, this is a reblog of sorts. Done today in recognition of the NBA All Star Game…. which I won’t be watching and wouldn’t watch if you paid me. But still… 😉


No great shakes here. More like a feeling. All these images were taken this past Saturday and Sunday. Seems to me that LA has shed the tourists and the holiday spirit and settled into itself once again. It’s a colder place than it was a month ago. Anyway, there’s a lot of shots. I do try to give anyone who visits here their money’s worth.
I left the last image, the stunning blonde sitting at a distance in the cafe , so that the image can be clicked on and examined at a larger resolution. It’s not a great or meaningful photograph. I posted it because I find it amazing sometimes what unlikely things you can do with a Leica pressed flat against your face. Thanks for looking!


Well, as we can all see (I hope) there’s been some changes around here.
I’d been meaning (why am I talking like a Downton Abbey character?) to experiment at some point with changing the theme but I have to say, the Chunk theme was (and maybe will still be) an amazing look from which to present my photography. I just needed something clean and elegant (at some point in my life 😉 ) and this WordPress blog and that theme gave me a great lift and I’m not sure at all that I won’t change right back to it after just a few days.
But… you know… the images were small. And in order to see the images in any proper display you had to click on them and load them individually. This new theme style ‘Suit’ shows the images at a much larger size and they’re also sharp at that resolution, something that could not be said for the way they displayed in Chunk.
There was something off in the color in the header area of Chunk that was or seemed to be impossible to fix. Whatever. I still love the elegance of that theme and it may be back before most anyone knows it was ever given a day or two off. Anyway. Let me know, if you feel like it, what any of you think of the new look around here. I actually hope to make more material changes as well as just cosmetic but that’s for another day.
As always, thank you for visiting!

I’m a notoriously long-winded writer. Believe it or not, it’s true. And when I say notorious, I’m not kidding or exaggerating. I could bring 200 people who know me online here to attest that for most of the last 20 years, in our circle, I have been known as the KING of long-form internet diatribes.
I thought I’d be continuing that tradition here on my own damned blog, but curiously, that hasn’t been the case. And I have so much to say about photography. You have NO idea precisely how much I have to say about photography. But with every example I see of some other blogger pontificating about photography I’m driven deeper and deeper into a shell that, believe me, NOBODY knew I had. Except me.
I’m not minding it at all though. I’m having a ball. I feel freer than I have in many decades. I’m feeling that my street photography is in a pocket right now. I’ve never been more in control and capable of producing exactly what it is that I want to produce with my camera. Yes I want to do many other things this year with my camera and without it but right now I’m extremely content to communicate my vision through the street photography images that I’m making and showing here.
Thank you for visiting and I hope the trip here is more often than not worth your trouble.
db
But everything about this subject reminds me of a figure on the cover of one of the old school books that inhabited the attic of our house in my childhood. I loved those books. Somehow, when I was actually in school, books weren’t nearly as interesting. In fact, they weren’t interesting at all. I mean really. Not. Interesting. 😉
But this stoic woman’s posture, leaning forward, her left arm laying across her body, bracing her stance against… well… the wind from a passing Bentley maybe, her other arm securing a back pack (my imagination, it’s probably a Michael Kors handbag), her hardy countenance, etc.
Maybe it’s the time of year. Me thinking about the coming year and all the possibilities and plans I have for 2014. Making my own adventures in the new world a reality. All those things.
Anyway.
Happy New Year!
Thank you to dear friends Marjorie and Tollie for hosting a splendid Christmas Eve party and inviting us to join them. It was a pleasure to see some old friends and meet new ones while enjoying the amazing and delicious temptations and libations. What a warmth this very special evening had! Feeling very fortunate a) just to be here (in a global sense) and b) to have been there. I will certainly cherish the memory (and my new Christmasy hat and light-up shades!) and I hope these images both recall the evening for those of us who were there but also will bring some of the warmth and joy of this special get together to everyone who visits 50lux.com. Thank you for looking!
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pa pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pa pum pum,
Rum pa pum pum, rum pa pum pum
So to honor Him, pa rum pa pum pum
When we come
Little baby, pa rum pa pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pa pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pa pum pum
That’s fit to give our King, pa rum pa pum pum,
Rum pa pum pum, rum pa pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pa pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pa pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pa pum pum,
Rum pa pum pum, rum pa pum pum
Then He smiled at me, pa rum pa pum pum