Los Angeles is iconic, it is the symbol of artistry and industry.

The architecture chosen for this series is just as iconic: Chateau

Marmont, Wayfarer’s Chapel, the Eastern Columbia Building, the Hollyhock
and Stahl houses, the Mayan Theatre, the Griffith Observatory, Capital
Records, Disney’s Concert Hall, and the Broad. Many of these structures,
such as Griffith’s Observatory were built in the early to mid-1900th
century and were the building blocks of the L.A. metropolis. The newer
buildings, like the Broad, exemplify the culture of Los Angeles and are
sure to become staples of the city in the years to come.

The main effots of this series was to find high quality photographs
that stand on their own, as such little more than lighting and contrast
adjustments were needed on most of the photographs used. That includes the
1960s photo of Capital Records tower; this image, the first in the series,
was specifically selected for the “building a metropolis” section because
there is able images of Capital Records through the decades showing how
Los Angeles was built into the city that it is today. Additionally, two
photos of Chateau Marmont were chosen to demonstrate how many of these
buildings have stood the test of time despite the changing city around
them; Chateau Marmont’s appears as impeccable in 2021 as it did in the
1940s.

Ironically, it was the newer images that required more editing than
the older images. At most, the 1940s photograph of Chateau Marmont
required blur and sharpening filters. Meanwhile, the image of Frank Lloyd
Wright’s Hollyhock house required substantial use of photoshop’s healing
brushes. These were used to remove construction cones and signage, and to
improve the grass in front of the building as there were large spots where
the grass was missing or browning. Similar techniques were used for the
Eastern Columbia Building and Disney’s Concert Hall to removed people in
the picture. The Disney Concert Hall featuring a caution cone and single
man walking in the middle of the photograph, and the Eastern Columbia
Building featured three people near the cross walks.

The most difficult (and my favorite) photograph, however, was the

Maya Theatre. The original photograph was taken from a corner, showing the
perspective of someone looking up at the building. This perspective, along
with the side alley and car in the photograph, diminished and distract
from the theatre’s beautiful façade. To fix this, I learned about and
implemented “perspective warp”. Once the perspective, curves, and levels
were adjusted, and the image was cropped, the building appeared dull when
considering the stonework and Mayan theme of the theatre. To fix this, the
vibrance and saturation of the photographs were increased to emphasize the
brilliant colors of the building’s façade.

One note that may have been made is that almost all the photographs
in the series show the exterior of the structure. This is was done because
the focus of the series was the architecture throughout the city, and that
is most embodied by a building’s exterior. The only exception was
Wayfarer’s church, which provides the only interior shot in their entire
selection, with the Stahl House functioning as a transition between the
rest of the series and the final photograph. This image was chosen to
contrast the rest of the images, as well as to provide a possible
transition to an interior version of this series.