Heidi Ryder Photography: The Blog » day trip

Downtown Los Angeles Day Trip

Heidi — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:28:55 +0000

I have a couple of super fabulous weddings to blog, but until I’m ready to share them, I have some non-client work to share today. Last week I went on another day trip with a group of wedding and portrait photographers. I’ve gone a couple of times before. You may remember my posts from Calico Ghost Town, in B&W and Color, and my set from Salton Sea.

The purpose of these day trips is to stretch a different artistic muscle when we photograph and to make images that are just for us, not our clients. It’s a great time and at the end of each day trip I’m always very glad I went. This time we stayed closer to home and explored Downtown Los Angeles. We started at Union Station and hopped across the way to Olvera Street and then proceeded to walk to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Pershing Square, and then finally to the colorful Grand Central Market before heading back home on the train.

The best part about this day trip is my husband Chris tagged along! He’s not a photographer, and barely knows how to use a camera, but he’s been taking more of an interest in that world lately so I invited him along. I gave him one of my old DSLRs, showed him how to work a few settings and he went to town! He had a fantastic time and we’re in the process of editing his images now. He got some great stuff and looking at his images make me feel like a proud wife and teacher.

Here are a few of my favorites from the day. Enjoy!

Salton Sea Day Trip

Heidi — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:25:20 +0000

Earlier this week I set out on another day trip with a group of fellow photographers. You may remember my last excursion to Calico Ghost Town in November. Here are the images from that trip: Color and B&W. I had so much fun on that trip, I couldn’t wait for the next one. This time we headed out to the Salton Sea in Coachella Valley. The Salton Sea used to be a resort locale but now the lake bed is full of salt which has killed all of the fish living there as well as completely overrun any buildings or fixtures near the water. The place is completely abandoned now, save for people who are living off the grid in what can only be described as shanty towns. It really is quite eerie.

The Salton Sea is quite large so we made our first top at the North Shore. There was an abandoned building with an empty pool, the remnants of a playground and dilapidated trailer homes. Here are a few images from North Shore:

After we got our fill there, we drove over to Bombay Beach. This was the spot that really got me excited. Burnt down mobile homes littered the landscape and dead fish skeletons were everywhere. Not to mention the salt. Salt was encrusted on every inch of every object within 500 feet of the water. It really was something to see. Here are a few from that spot:

I had even more fun on this day trip and can’t wait to find out where we’re gonna go next. I got to hang out with some of my favorite photographers that I already knew and met some new people who were so awesome. Check out this rock star group (I stole this from Heather Kincaid‘s blog, I think it was taken with her camera):

Today I start packing for Vegas, baby! I will be heading out on Sunday for WPPI, the tradeshow for wedding and portrait photographers. I’m so excited! I will do my best to blog from Sin City, but dont’ count on it! Just kidding, totally count on it!

Calico Ghost Town: In Color

Heidi — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:05:25 +0000

A couple of months ago I joined an online community for professional photographers called The [b] School. Through it, I’ve begun to forge relationships with local and non-local wedding and portrait photographers who have reached varying levels of success in their careers. It’s been a great resource for me as I didn’t really know too many photographers in this field personally. Well, that’s changed and on Tuesday I even got to shoot with a handful of them during a day trip excursion to Calico Ghost Town. Joe Photo organized this Day Trip and plans to organize one on the second Tuesday of every odd month for a while. This was the first Day Trip and 13 of us had a blast together while we made photos just for us–not a client in sight.

I had an amazing time and can’t wait for January’s trip. Calico had amazing textures, which is something I’m always drawn to in a photograph. I’ve decided to blog my photos in two parts: color and black & white. First up: the colors! Please enjoy: