The Small Things

I went outside the other day when the "Super Moon" was suppose to be out and I think I missed it because the Moon didn't look too stunning. As I was shooting away I started to think about how small we really are. Not necessarily in size, though we are small in size comparatively, but  the impact we have when compared to the universe. When I think about it deeply it has hard to comprehend the size of the universe.The human mind can comprehend this...Try and think about it for a moment.

The Milky Way Galaxy is about 100,000 light years away and a light year is equal to 1 trillion miles. The Milky Way is just one of an estimated 100-200 billion galaxies. We could barely set foot on the Moon and the Moon is a mere 221,463 miles away...Grasp that sucka.
Then my mind started wandering and I  remembered  that I thought I would be rolling in a Porsche by the age of 23 but to be honest I could care less now. We are nothing and this life passes by in the blink of an eye. This moon is nothing compared to the universe. I would rather spend my time on something else than gaining some wealth. Obviously we need money, but I would much rather be doing something good than doing something else just for the wealth.

 We all die, every single one of us and I won't be taking a Porsche to the other side when death comes knocking at my door.

Anyways, about the picture, the Moon in the bottom left of the picture in a way reflects how tiny it really is in the dark night.(here it is as a bigger file) Tiny, tiny tiny...

Mom & Pop

I always see this little "shop" on my  way to a work site and it just makes me think what exactly is being sold if anything at all. It has an address and they always have rusted bikes and mangled chairs outside. I believe they sell these items and I wonder how they keep their shop up and running with just these things...(Here is the bigger sized Flickr file which gives you a better look.)

I know that in East LA there is a small "party supply" store that looks beat up and their real purpose is to supply the neighborhood with some drugs.How do I know this? Well for one you can tell that a beat down shop like that can't possibly survive for many, many years. I also know this because the people who run the behind the scenes drug operations asked  someone  if they wanted to open up a bakery but their real objective would be selling drugs behind the scenes. The lady that was asked bakes and sells cakes in a little 2 bedroom house. She had such high demand but couldn't supply because she was lacking resources and tools.

Why would anyone want to partner up with such people? Well the local "vendors" would have paid for the costs of getting the bakery running. This sounds like an offer that can't be refused when someone has such high cake demand but cant supply because she doesn't have the tools for such big jobs. Luckily the lady didn't take the offer, we all know how things end when you get involved with drugs...

I am certain that there are many more examples of these type of stores all around Los Angeles and across the nation. It also makes me wonder how they get away with their accounting and taxes...Maybe we got dirty folks at the city, but of course that could never happen in this wonderful nation!

-Brian

Rot in Hell

There are many places around Los Angeles that are left to rot in Hell. Sounds kinda extreme doesn't it? Well there are parts of the city that are neglected, especially in South LA, because they are already bad as it is and this makes them even worse. It just snowballs downhill picking up the trash. These spots just start to rot away. This picture is a small example of what I am talking about.

It doesn't look all that bad here but if you think about it, you wouldn't want this in your backyard or around your neighborhood. (Here is the bigger size picture.)I feel as if the city neglects these parts of the neighborhood and in the end they just become a dump site for the community. In all honesty they have to keep another population happy and these South LA folks are probably on the bottom of their list.

With all these monetary issues, I doubt that such places will get cleaned up  by the city anytime soon. The only way a flower will bloom here is if some other group comes in and decides to start a clean up.I couldn't find an organization that does so but if anyone knows of one already, please let me know and I will get involved too. bgeephoto@gmail.com is my email.

As always, your 2 minutes looking at this means a lot to me.

-Brian

Where did it go wrong?

I was driving home from work and saw this man sitting on the street in downtown and thought to myself what he was doing. It looked like he was sleeping, or maybe he was in pain and just shut his eyes to try and to make it go away. Either way, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. By the looks of it he isn't having too much fun. There are many people like this all around the city and it makes me wonder how far worse it is in other countries. So this reminds me how easy I have it and I am thankful to God for what he has given me and I hope that I reminded that I don't need anymore. Here is the bigger photograph on flickr.

"And I still hear my friend say,
“You know, you wouldn’t believe the things I saw when I was stationed overseas.”
But he somehow keeps smiling in spite all of that. While
I keep finding ways to push the good out for the bad. Oh, how selfish of myself to always say that it was more than I could take,
Like it was pain I could not shake..."- La Dispute

I decided to post again.Its been a while. I like showing my pictures even if only one person catches it so I decided to get this running again.

I think that pictures are powerful and this one right here gives one a look at something we wouldn't normally see...I guess I have peach fuzz all over my face. The eye looks ugly up close but what a thing it is. Our freckles are actually craters. Check it out in a large format here in a large sizer where it looks  A LOT better!

That being the case, I decided to change the goal of my blog. Why just focus on Los Angeles? After picking up my amazing LX-5 camera, I have been taking photographs everywhere and I enjoy doing it. My goal is to show something that the human eye can't see and add commentary to it. We can start to look at things differently through pictures and actually admire that which we perceive as dull and dry.

Thanks and like always, thank you for taking the time to read and see.

Sex in the city

I wonder how long these shops have been operating for.... "Smoke Tokes" and Adult DVDs... Okay maybe with the  legalization of marijuana, Smoke Tokes can stay in business, but the Adult DVD shop? You can watch stuff online...maybe people are scared of getting a virus? Don't do it either way its bad.

Just last week I saw a sticker on a window of an 'adult shop' ( across the street from this picture) that was selling a "The Best of Sex" DVD, "Six Hours of the best sex"....Was there a panel that decided one sex scene was better than the other? I can imagine how it went....

Sex connoisseur guy#1  "This scene is better, look at all three of them, now that's passion!"
Sex connoisseur guy #2  " No way man, its quality picture over quantity, we are in the age of HD!"

Final thoughts, Los Angeles should get rid of these shops( but unfortunately, we can't just kick them out...) Put a food court in there, Chipotle right next to a doughnut shop, because God knows Downtown needs a donut shop!

New methods, stupid people...traffic still sucks

I was driving home the other day from work down 4th street heading east when I almost hit some idiot because he wasn't paying attention...Can you relate? Anyways, I had to take a picture of this moron...I was able to take a picture of him through my mirror.( So much for paying attention to the road). Can you notice whats wrong with this picture? Look on top of the third car from the left....BIG X on top...that means you can't be in that lane because it is open to opposing traffic and it just so happens that I was that opposing traffic and I was heading right toward him, luckily I was paying attention and moved to another lane. (And luckily no one was in the other lane..I was probably going like 40-50mph)

People are stupid, including myself, and sometimes we don't bother scouting around but that is because we don't know of these changes or what they mean. But are we are suppose to know that an X means the lane is closed? The first time I saw these I was a bit confused.There are many new proposed methods of battling traffic, including this one and I think that we should leave things alone if it means losing a life. And honestly will this help reduce traffic? I could have been injured badly or killed if i wasn't paying attention...who knows maybe this idiot hit someone else.....

"Traffic sucks"

Well then ride a bike. Don't have one? Come get one here, there are three...go steal one.

graffito: a rude decoration inscribed on rocks or walls

Looks like this is one rude decoration. Since graffiti is a rude decoration, Los Angeles must be a rude city?

Los Angeles has amazing graffiti art. Graffiti isn't tagging...though Los Angeles has lots of tagging, this to your left isn't tagging, its graffiti..The artist/s didn't make this in ten seconds flat, this art takes time.

People from other cities tell me that Los Angelinos are rude people, but I wouldn't be able to give my opinion because I have never lived in a city far from Los Angeles. Though I definitely see why others would see us as rude....Heck if you dare look and smile at a stranger, people will most likely find it as an offense, at least in Los Angeles. Why? I don't know....

The Night Life

With LA Live, Los Angeles has tried to become a city that does not sleep. I do not believe that a couple of restaurants, a theater and some bowling lanes keeps Los Angeles awake. Good try though.

This picture shows some "night life" that many people go through, waiting for the bus. 

Downtown

The all too familiar for those awesome car commercials. I have to put this up since this is part of Los Angeles. I too am guilty of taking some night shots of Downtown, but who wouldn't? Its a nice little place, thought it really isn't as important as the historic Central Business District, since one doesn't have to come here to conduct business.

Borderlands

This reminds me of the border, it looks lonely... Anyways, he is carrying some tar, probably got it from the La Brea Tar Pits.

Another truth

This is how many people live in Los Angeles, their whole life in a stroller. This is one occasion where "a dog is a mans best friend" can be used...he has two dogs, the other one hid when it saw my camera.  
FYI 82,000 people are homeless on any given night in Los Angeles. That's almost one and a half Dodgers Stadiums.....

Micas Micas! Viva America Putos.....

Chicka Chicka yeah! Fake ID Fake ID.  So this guy might be hailing a taxi, since it is legal in LA now, but I highly doubt it because I took this picture in MacArthur Park and this is THE place to get your fake ID. What pisses me off the most is that some people were brought to the United States at a young age by their parents (unwillingly) and now they are stuck here without "legal standing". And shut the fuck up you assholes who say "go back to where you came from", where to? A place where they were born and lived for when they were 2 years old? Go back home? This is home. Fuck you.

(A little off topic).....There are kids out their who are finishing college and knowing that they are out of luck for now because they won't be able to get a job because of some stupid document....These kids actually give a damn about their education and don't complain and all the glory to them if they do complain because they can. Please be a kind human and not complain about a fucking test.

A friend told me about a program that would help "illegal immigrants" gain 'some' status by paying a fine and having to stand in the back of the line. Whoa, the back of the line? Welcome to the Sixties....Again, why should someone who was brought here unwillingly have to stand in the back of a line?  Even most who came willingly came for the better, to get a job even if it means cutting your grass everyday. Why do we act like the United States is 'the land of the free', THE nation of the world? What kind of shit are we showing when we cant even help our own, yes OUR own, we are here to stay, we are Americans too. The United States has treated their people horribly in the past, scalped Native Americans( and paid people to do so), hung Blacks because of their skin color, imprisoned Japanese for pathetic reasons, allowed massacres around the world all the while we killed in war and now treat people unequally because they don't have "papers".

But as long as people don't care enough, things won't change. Another friend said something else, "People riot when the Lakers win a championship but not when their schools are failing". This can be said for immigration as well. Maybe I don't care enough, I'm just another kid posting on his blog about how fucked this world is right?

1/2 the truth.

This is one reality of Los Angeles and of many other places around the world. I took this picture for a school project and my professor didn't like it, she said that I took it for my own benefit.My project was about "How Los Angeles really is" and I would be lying if I didn't show this picture. I am not making money off of this, I am not getting fame from this, just showing the way it really is, and many people don't realize that some people live in a bus stop. My professor was wrong, she should have opened up her mind...I ended up getting a B in photography, maybe because this pissed her off.. About face, get an A.