At the onset of this blog, I had mentioned that this blog was going to cover a wide range of topics and that is still the game plan, but on this latest installment of Moments in the City, I’m actually going to go into a moment I had in the city earlier this week and how it came to be. And it all revolves around the picture I have attached to this post.

I took the pic about two days ago and I have been looking at it a lot for the past 48 hours just trying to wrap my head around it and make sense of it. It is the perfect juxtaposition^* of what DTLA is…a combination of many things all in a densely packed area comprised of a few square miles, a melting pot if you will. If you only venture out to DTLA for the nightlife every so often, you will not get the full essence of what this city truly is. I can go on for days about what this city is and what it means to me, but I don’t want to make this post too long winded and I have plenty of time to delve into that topic on future posts.

So meow were we? Oh yeah, the moments leading up to the pic. The instant I took the pic, I already knew that I had captured one of my all time favorite moments. The afternoon started out like any other, I got home from work and decided that I wanted to hop on my bike and grab something eat. Destination? The new Señor Fish located by city hall (trying to get my fish taco on, son!). But to my surprise and disappointment, the joint was closed! Guess they still have not officially opened yet. So I kept going down the street into Little Tokyo and decided on Spitz, the Middle Eastern wrap/sandwich joint (check it out if you are ever in the area). It was such a nice day so I had dinner on the patio. After I finished my meal I decided to head back up 2^nd Street towards home and that is when I looked up just as the sun was starting to set behind the DTLA skyline. The sky was hazy and that caused the sun to give the buildings a nice beautiful warm glow – that was some celestial shit right there! It stopped me dead in my tracks and luckily I had my camera on me.

The angle from where I was at when I looked up was not the most optimal, but I had remembered that there was a spot a few blocks away near The Escondite (San Pedro and Boylston) where the buildings opened up and allowed for an unobstructed view of the skyline. So I jetted over there as fast as I could in order to attempt to capture that sight. I only had my 50mm lens on me so the composition was going to be a bit tricky since I couldn’t zoom in or out to get a wider angle. Whenever I try to capture the skyline, I also try to capture the street (or the base of the building) unless I am just taking a pic of a specific building. I had to move around a bit and get close to the ground in order to properly frame the scene in the way I had wanted to. At the end of the day, the picture does not do what my eyes saw any justice, but it did serve to save the moment forever and it has also allowed me to share it with you guys.

My intention was to capture the sun-rays poking through the skyline, but when I started snapping away, I noticed that there was also a lot going in the foreground. The homeless peeps were starting to set up their tents for the evening and the street was beginning to look desolate and bleak (compared to the hustle and bustle that goes on during the day). A stark contrast to the buildings in the background that are comprised of banks, prestigious law firms and numerous Fortune 500 companies. And I also happen to work in one of those buildings, which in itself is a testament to how far I have come. But for that moment, I was on the other side of town, a moment of reflection that served to remind me of how blessed and grateful I am. The city will do that you from time to time and it makes all worthwhile. Until the next time – stay up, stay smiling and keep grinding.

^*I had been wanting to legitimately use that word for the longest, you don’t even know fam! 😉