Indulge in The Luxury of the Los Angeles Union Station

This Photography Project is to take Amtrak from San Diego and indulge in the luxury of Los Angeles Union Station. I am a regular rider of Amtrak, so it was a no-brainer for me to take the train from San Diego to Los Angeles and take photos at the Union Station in Los Angeles. Predictably, I picked the coldest and wettest day of the year to go; and there were train delays both ways.

This project was to get the feel of Union Station with the trains, buses, and commuters; as well as the grandeur of the station. To do this, we will use different composition methods combined with the architecture of the building.

Los Angeles Union Station

Composition Styles

People, Reflections

Architecture

Texture, Patterns

Texture, Leading Lines

Leading Lines, Symmetry, Patterns

Bird’s-Eye View, Leading Lines, Patterns

The Journey

The Amtrak journey from San Diego to Los Angeles is a three-hour ride under most circumstances. Not today though, we left San Diego on time, but near Oceanside we had delays from both train traffic and signal problems because of the rain. I left early in the morning, and we were delayed 45 minutes or so.

Now, I am in Union Station, walking around and looking for the shots that I wanted to get. I have a small profile camera, with the small f/1.8 55 mm lens, and a wrist strap, Also, because it is raining, the camera fits into my rain jacket pockets perfectly when I am not shooting photos.

Stopped at Traxx Bar and got a sandwich and a couple drinks for lunch. This is the watering hole for the commuters to and from the business district. Felt great after lunch and headed out.

I spend the day waling inside the buildings and when the rain stops I am able to go outside and get some outside photos, to have a change of looks. I wanted to take night photos and I have some hours to wait. So I buy a Metro ticket and take the Metro train down a couple exits and explore Downtown Los Angeles, where I worked for some time.

I did not take any photos here, just exploring the city and seeing both the old and the new establishments. Got back to Union Station as it was getting dark. I went outside and got the gorgeous night lights here.

The Delay

Now it is time to wait for the late train to go back home. I head to the Homebound Brew Haus inside the station and talk with other commuters and have a drink until it is time to board. This time, the incoming train to take us back is three-hours late.

We finally boarded and took another long ride back to San Diego. By the time my Uber driver dropped my off, I had been on this journey just short of 24-hours!

It was a very long day, but I was pleased with the results I got from the journey,

My Camera Gear

Camera: Sony A7iii
Lens: Sony FE 55 mm, f/1.8 Prime Lens
Peak Design Wrist Strap

I used my Sony A7iii camera and the smallest lens I own, the Sony FE 55 mm f/1.8 Prime Lens. This kit has a small profile and the camera and lens fit in my raincoat jacket when I was not using it. The 55 mm lens was a challenge, many times it was impossible to get the whole scene in frame, and other times I had to use my feet to zoom either closer or farther.

The Camera Experiment

Motion Blur

Another part of the experiment is kept the aperture low, in this case, at f/1.8 or as low as possible. The sky was cloudy, so I used ISO 400 for day, night, and interior photos.

My Shot List

I created a shot list before I went. In the heat of the moment, a few items were missed; but overall I got most of the types of shots that I wanted.

Establishing Shots – Day and Night
Architecture
Night and Day Shots
Interior and Exterior
Composition
- Landscape & Portrait
- Abstract
- Leading Lines
- Patterns
- Symmetry
- Textures
- Reflections
Bird’s Eye View
People
Artwork
Signs
Detail Shots
Motion Blur
Bars & Restaurants
My Selfie!

Post-Production Processing

I use Adobe Lightroom for all of my processing, and I have a set of presets that I may use and tweak from the presets.

My Workflow:

Copy photos from the SD card to folders on my workstation by date and event.
Import folder/photos into Adobe Lightroom.
Add Copyright info to photos.
Convert photos from ARW raw format to DNG format.
Add Location and other Keywords to the group of photos.
Cull, Crop, Edit, and Export photos as desired.
Post on Social Media.
Write Blog

My Selfie!

“Selfie” (B/W, square-cropped, using a reflection in Vivian Maier style). Was the shake done on purpose, or was it just too many shots from the bar? The mystery remains…