B12 Solipsism

Hill Street (?), Los Angeles

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It Matters Less Than One Might Think was taken on January 31, 2013 at 05:00PM

I liked how my folks and my LA hosts turned bokeh in the background while the plant leaves crossed their proverbial legs in the foreground. I tried a few variants (black and white; stark, high contrast black and white; and over-saturated color) before settling on this toned version. I’ll probably revisit later, and try other versions too.

In his book Postmodern Geographies: the reassertion of space in critical social theory (1989), Edward W. Soja describes the hotel as “a concentrated representation of the restructured spatiality of the late capitalist city: fragmented and fragmenting, homogeneous and homogenizing, divertingly packaged yet curiously incomprehensible, seemingly open in presenting itself to view but constantly pressing to enclose, to compartmentalize, to circumscribe, to incarcerate. Everything imaginable appears to be available in this micro-urb but real places are difficult to find, its spaces confuse an effective cognitive mapping, its pastiche of superficial reflections bewilder co-ordination and encourage submission instead. Entry by land is forbidding to those who carelessly walk but entrance is nevertheless encouraged at many different levels. Once inside, however, it becomes daunting to get out again without bureaucratic assistance. In so many ways, its architecture recapitulates and reflects the sprawling manufactured spaces of Los Angeles” (p. 243-44).

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Not to mention:

It has been featured in many movies and television series over the years including: Strange Days, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Blue Thunder, Breathless, This is Spinal Tap, Hit the Booty Do, In the Line of Fire, Nick of Time, True Lies, Midnight Madness, Showtime, Hard to Kill, The Lincoln Lawyer, Chuck, Moby Dick, The Fantastic Journey and was destroyed (via special effects) in Escape from LA and Epicenter. The television series It’s a Living was set in a restaurant atop the Bonaventure. The Westin Bonaventure Hotel is also showcased in episodes of CSI and its exterior can be seen in Americathon, Mission: Impossible III, Almighty Thor, Hancock, and at the beginning of the Lionel Richie Dancing on the Ceiling music video. You can see it being constructed in the movie The Wilderness Family.

Gape at the Thoughts Which Others Have Thought was taken on January 31, 2013 at 04:57PM

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You Better Use Your Sense was taken on April 18, 2009 at 12:55PM

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Is Chivalry Dead? – Ilford Delta 3200 was taken on November 22, 2010 at 10:04AM

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Golden Streets of Rain was taken on November 22, 2012 at 05:05PM

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I Forgot All The Rest was taken on September 22, 2012 at 04:52PM

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Boarding Stable was taken on July 11, 2007 at 06:07PM

Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone
Lens: John S
Flash: Off
Film: Cano Cafenol

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Good morning West Loop was taken on February 14, 2012 at 06:36AM

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In The Night Forlorn was taken on July 04, 2011 at 09:27PM

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Hot Dogs at the Merchandise Mart at night – Cross Processed was taken on July 02, 2010 at 09:56PM

Some other cloudscapes from this same day:
www.flickr.com/photos/swanksalot/archives/date-taken/2011…

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Cloudscape Number 2197 was taken on July 01, 2011 at 12:50PM

Toned in Photoshop.

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So Fine At First – Copper Blue was taken on December 18, 2009 at 01:33PM

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Choose Your Angle was taken on March 28, 2011 at 03:55PM