NIGHTSCAPES

I’d only been dating my wife a couple months when I jeopardized our relationship. We were driving home from some event downtown when I noticed impossibly bright lights. Hollenbeck Park was glowing amber; the source was a mammoth 12,000-watt studio light shining down from a 100-foot crane. I pulled off the freeway and headed toward the movie lights like a moth. Readying my tripod and camera, I told Dani I wouldn’t be long.

But ooh, that light was irresistible. Other worldly. After each shot, I saw another vantage, another angle I had to capture. I scurried around the park with the long legs of my tripod extended, loading and reloading my Mamiya Rz67 before it dawned on me that Dani was unhappily waiting in the car. It must have been close to midnight. I found her staring stone eyed in the dark. She let me know that this was not a safe neighborhood. Me trying to explain the lights’ intoxicating appeal didn’t help. “The marine layer, you see, acts like a giant reflector bouncing back those Hollywood 12K’s, and you add to that, layers of pollution reflecting the light. On film, with a long exposure, the sky takes on these incredible colors – pea soup green and eggplant purple and…" I was only making it worse, so I made a silent beeline back to the onramp. I’d have plenty of other chances to capture the otherworldly LA skyglow. Electric amber and seductive bubble gum pink. Right now, I was counting my lucky stars that Dani was mostly understanding of the creative impulse.