Hollywood Revisited: A Vine Street Sunset

Sometimes, photography is about seeing how far you’ve grown. I had originally planned to shoot at Griffith Park, but when that fell through, I decided to revisit a classic spot I hadn't properly photographed in years: the view over the 101 Freeway looking down Vine Street.

I have a bit of history with this specific vantage point. I first shot it back in 2007 with an old 8MP DSLR, which came out decent for the time, and tried again in 2012 with results that were mediocre at best. Standing there this time, looking at the Capitol Records spire and the Broadway building, I realized how much the gear—and my eye—has changed.

It wasn't an easy capture, though. This location is tricky because you have to balance the intense light values of the city against the dark freeway shadows. To make things more complicated, the traffic on Vine was slower and lighter than ideal, making it a challenge to get those deep, streaking light trails I was hoping for. But despite the slow flow, getting to update this shot with a much higher resolution camera felt like the perfect way to close out the evening.