The beauty of photography lies in the art of discovery, capturing images that are uniquely your own, and avoiding the cliché “downtown Los Angeles” stamp on your work.

Today, we’re embarking on a photographic journey through downtown Los Angeles, exploring some of my favorite, lesser-known spots, all within a five-minute walk of each other. This DIY photo tour will equip you with tips on how to get there, what to steer clear of, and what to keep an eye out for. But, before we delve into the picturesque wonders of this vibrant city, there’s one crucial element to remember: safety first.

The Best Downtown LA Photo Spots

Downtown Los Angeles is a great place where each street may add a different backdrop to your photographs. You have old, new, rundown, and in-between. No matter what area you choose, put safety at the top of your concerns. 

1. Embrace the Unconventional Exploration

One of the most exhilarating ways to unearth a new location is to embrace unconventional exploration. Forget sticking to the main streets and obvious landmarks. Dive into every building, venture through side doors and winding alleys. If you stumble upon a parking structure, don’t opt for the elevator; instead, take the stairs and see what hidden perspectives await. I found two of the locations in this video by wandering aimlessly. 

2. Opt for Walking Over Driving

Walking forces you to experience the location at a slower pace, enabling you to absorb the intricacies and nuances that might otherwise be missed. The simple act of wandering the streets of downtown Los Angeles can lead to chance encounters and serendipitous discoveries. When I walk around, I’m not only looking forward. I’m looking to see for any unique angles, places to get lost in, etc.

3. The Magic of Different Times of Day

To truly understand a location and its photographic potential, visit it at various times of the day. Each moment brings with it a unique play of light, shadows, and ambiance. The early morning sun casts a beautiful glow on the city’s architecture, while the twilight hours infuse the streets with a captivating, cinematic quality. By capturing the same spot at different times, you can find multiple uses for the same scene.

The essence of a great photograph lies not only in the subject but also in the photographer’s unique perspective. As you follow this video guide to downtown Los Angeles, remember, the charm of photography resides in the art of discovery.

Photo: Jim Smeal Images/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

It’s difficult to imagine a stripped-down version of Dolly Parton, sans her sky-high blonde wig, false eyelashes, lipstick, and rhinestones. Come to think of it, I can hardly picture the music icon wearing a pair of blue jeans. It simply does not align with her public or private persona — her signature look is glamorous, glittery, and gaudy in the best way possible. And in her new photography book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones (available today anywhere books are sold), Parton reminds the world that her flamboyant style has never been an act. Instead, it’s a reflection of who she is at her core and her lifelong motto: “To thine own self be true.”

“In this book you’ll see how, as a young artist, my self-confidence was enhanced by developing my own Dolly style and then sticking to it,” Parton, now 77, writes in the introduction. “I didn’t care about trends. Instead, I worked hard to look the way I pictured myself. Although my style has evolved as the years have gone by, I’ve stuck to the motto ‘To thine own self be true’ over the past six decades — and still do. Much as the fictional characters that populate my songs uncover essential truths about me and the people I’ve known, my clothes and makeup also reveal the real me. Maybe they’re both ‘made up,’ but they reflect my innermost self, my own personal truth.”

“Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones” by Dolly Parton

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Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones — which is the second installment of a trilogy that began with Parton’s 2020 best seller, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics — takes readers through her decades-long career as one of the most accomplished female singer-songwriters of all time. She opens up her coveted fashion archive and shares behind-the-scenes stories about her most memorable looks, including a rhinestone chiffon gown she wore to accept her first-ever Country Music Award in 1968, her signature bejeweled jumpsuits designed by Lucy Adams, costumes from her Las Vegas residency, a halter dress she wore to the New York City premiere of Steel Magnolias, and an Old Hollywood-inspired gown she wore on the cover of her 29th solo studio album White Limozeen.

Photo: Harry Langdon/Getty Images

The book is an encyclopedia of iconic pop-culture moments; it’s a visual feast for fashion enthusiasts and a treasured keepsake for Parton’s loyal fans. But even more so than that, it serves as a reminder that Parton’s superpower — and perhaps even the reason for her record-breaking longevity in Hollywood — is her authenticity. It’s a common thread throughout Parton’s life that can be traced all the way back to her childhood, growing up in the backwoods of East Tennessee near the Smokey Mountains.

Photo: Ron Galella Images/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

“I always loved makeup. I wanted to be pretty. Back then, any woman who wore makeup in the mountains was considered trashy. But I didn’t care,” she writes. “When I started buying my own makeup, I also started dressing according to how I felt, which meant wearing tight, low-cut outfits that my mama made. I remember feeling powerful enough to go up against Daddy or Grandpa to say, ‘Now, that’s not that tight. It ain’t cut that low. It ain’t that much.’ And they’d say, ‘Yes, it is!’ But I’d be willing to get my ass whupped for it. I would sacrifice for how I wanted to look,” she writes. “The same thing happened when I moved to Nashville in 1964 to become a country star. Just like I had to persist to get my songs heard and ignite my recording career, I had to resist a lot of ‘advice’ telling me to tone down my look or choose a different type of wardrobe. In these pages, you’ll learn I never listened to any of that.”

Dolly has always been, well, just Dolly! Her personal style has evolved some over the course of her career, as you’ll see in the book, but her love for flashy fashions has never wavered. In a trend-obsessed world of people trying to be someone they’re not, Parton’s commitment to staying true to herself is refreshing, endearing, and oh-so-necessary. And it’s the reason everybody still loves Dolly, all these years later.

The Pure Joy of Dolly Parton’s Fashion Archive

Each spring, residents of nearby villages drape huge blankets over the Rhône glacier in the Swiss Alps. The glacier, which is the primary source of the Rhône river, has lost 40 per cent of its volume in the past century. By shielding the ice from ultraviolet radiation, the blankets reduce melting by around 50 per cent, but they can’t stop the glacier’s retreat. Almost all glaciers in the Alps will disappear by the end of the century if emissions continue at the current rate, according to a 2019 study.

Paulo Sousa’s photograph of the shrouded glacier scooped the top prize in the 2023 Royal Society of Biology Photography Competition, worth £1000. The theme of this year’s competition was “Nature and Climate”.

“Glaciers remind us of the delicate balance between nature and humanity, serving as both sentinels of climate change and a source of life-giving freshwater for countless communities,” Sousa said in a press release. “The importance of glaciers extends beyond their icy beauty; they are vital indicators of our planet’s health and the legacy we leave for future generations.”

The runner-up, Daniel Shipp, took this photo of a pink skunk clownfish (Amphiprion perideraion) near the island of Bunaken off Sulawesi, Indonesia. The fish is sheltered by the tentacles of a long-tentacle anemone (Macrodactyla doreensis) that has undergone bleaching. Similar to corals, sea anemones have a symbiotic relationship with the photosynthetic algae that live in their tissues. High temperatures can cause the algae to leave, and this can lead to the death of the anemone if adverse conditions persist.

Louise Pask was named Young Photographer of the Year for her photo of African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) on Boulders Beach in South Africa. The population of these birds fell by 65 per cent between 1989 and 2020, mainly due to declining numbers of the fish that make up their diet.

Isaac Savage, the runner-up for the young photographer prize, took this shot of a footpath inundated with floodwater in York, UK. Floods are expected to occur more frequently in the UK and with greater severity as a consequence of climate change.

Among the shortlisted photos was Mostafijur Nasim‘s aerial shot of a herd of buffalo walking through a sandy field in Bogura district, Bangladesh, a country facing some of the worst impacts of climate change. Many people who once made a living from buffalo herding have switched to other professions because increasing salinity has meant there isn’t enough drinking water to sustain large herds.

Another shortlisted image, taken by Maia Tochilashvili, shows an evergreen plant covered in ice in Tbilisi, Georgia.

De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) Photography graduate Lucas Dove has impressed judges at the prestigious Eizo Student Awards, securing a first-place win.

Lucas with his Eizo award

The awards give photography and filmmaking students in the UK the opportunity to showcase their work across four categories and gain recognition in the industry.

Having already gained experience in photography, Lucas decided to challenge himself by entering his sports videography piece in the ‘Movement’ category. The risk paid off, earning him first place and an Eizo monitor as a prize.

“It felt really surreal being at the awards ceremony. When they called my name, I had a moment when I couldn’t believe it had happened,” said the 22-year-old from Cambridge.

“The whole experience was a great networking opportunity. I spoke to the judges who are really prominent industry figures. All the finalists were there so it was great to see everyone’s work. I’d met some of them before at other exhibitions so it was great to see them again and strengthen those connections.”

One of Lucas’ photos that was showcased at the Free Range exhibition

Lucas’ talent was also recognised at the Free Range exhibition that he attended during his final year at DMU. Held annually in London, the event is a showcase of the work of fine art and photography students from around the country.

After exhibiting his work, Lucas was approached by a representative from Amateur Photographer magazine, asking to include his work in a graduates highlight feature in their next issue.

“There was only a handful of people included in the article so it was really incredible to be chosen for that,” said Lucas.

“Getting an offer like that off the back of the Free Range show just shows you never know what will happen and who might be watching. Those events are great opportunities to get your work out there and be seen.”

Photo: Lucas Dove

Having studied double sports and photography at A-Level, Lucas found his niche before beginning his studies at DMU, and having the opportunity to unite his hobbies has given him the drive to achieve his current success.

“I’ve always loved swimming and rugby and the more I did photography, the more I loved it. I completed a placement at Gymshark during my third year which was just the best year of my life. I learned so much about sport photography and met so many amazing people,” said Lucas.

Lucas made the decision to study at DMU after seeing the facilities on offer. He said: “I was considering a few different universities but I knew I’d have the opportunity to work on both my photography and videography skills at DMU.

“The Vijay Patel Building and the studios are incredible. You can hire out some really advanced equipment to use for your own projects, which is amazing.”

Photo: Lucas Dove

Since winning the competition and graduating, Lucas has been utilising his skills by working on a videography project for his old rugby club. After being sent an equipment package by Cannon, he’s been able to continue to produce high-quality sports-based videos.

“It’s been a domino effect from the competition and things have really taken off from there. It has opened so many doors for me,” he said.

Lucas is now focusing on his freelance career, having set up his own company, and has plans to go travelling while continuing his photography and videography, broadening his range and adding to his portfolio.

Posted on Tuesday 17th October 2023

The relationships between the US government and Native American tribes aren’t something most of us in the UK know a lot about. But even most US citizens find it all a bit difficult to follow.

How can some tribes be officially recognised and others not? How can an indigenous person have blond hair and blue eyes? It’s this sea of confusion that German photographer Maria Sturm stumbled into in 2011 when she began to photograph the lives of young people from the Lumbee Tribe around Pembroke, Robeson County, North Carolina.

Through the process of documenting their lives, Sturm began to question her own understanding of this issue. This led her to embark on an award-winning photo series that’s been widely exhibited and now published as a book. Combining photographs with interviews and texts, You Don’t Look Native to Me digs deep into the idea that Native identity is not fixed, but evolving and redefining itself with each generation.

We chatted to Maria about the idea’s origins, some contradictions around the identity it uncovered, and what it made her realise about her own place in the world.

Origins

The series began after a conversation she had with her stepdad in 2011. “He told me about his friend Dr Jay Hansford C. Vest from the then-federally unrecognised Monacan Indian Nation from Virginia,” Maria recalls. “I literally stumbled over the word ‘unrecognised’. What does it mean? Why are there Native American people unrecognised in the US today? How can that be? What are the criteria for being recognised? And how can institutions decide who you are and who you are not?”

With a bit of research, she uncovered some answers. “To get full recognition, you must petition at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the BIA, and prove your ‘nativeness’,” she explains. “Unrecognised tribes may not meet the BIA’s criteria, for example, because they have lost their ancestral language, their history or are mixed-race. And that means they aren’t eligible for financial support or any land rights by the United States government. The tribe my dad mentioned, the Monacans, were one of six Virginian tribes that were federally recognised as of January 2018.”

Later in the same conversation, her dad further unnerved her by mentioning that Jay was blond and had blue eyes. “I paused, realising my own confusion. ‘Why can’t a Native American have blond hair and blue eyes?’ I didn’t grow up watching Western movies, yet still, I had an image carved in my head of what somebody I hadn’t met before was supposed to look like. I started thinking about how we absorb references and solidify tropes.”

Maria’s reaction shook her so thoroughly that she knew she wanted to do a project about this topic. “I thought: ‘If I can have a physical reaction to a contradiction that leads me to question what I think I know, someone else could have a similar experience.'”

Background

Her photographs, at first glance, depict the daily life of an archetypal American community. On closer inspection, though, elements of tribal affiliation start to reveal themselves. A street named ‘Dreamcatcher Drive’. A ‘Native Pride’ baseball cap with a feather. Halloween fangs on a Tuscarora child in regalia. All these things make sense where nearly 90% of the population identify as Native, and Maria’s photographs present them as individuals with their own unique identity and shared culture.

The presence of Native symbolism on street signs, pictures on walls, on cars, on shirts and as tattoos shows how a stereotypical image is often presented back to them. The book’s title, You Don’t Look Native to Me, is borrowed from a quote familiar to many residents of Robeson County and encapsulates the discrepancy between their identity and preconceptions of others.

The location for her shots, Pembroke, is the tribal seat of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the largest state-recognised tribe east of the Mississippi River. However, although state-recognised, they are federally unrecognised and neither have a reservation nor receive financial benefits from the federal government.

The Lumbee name was voted for in 1952 to unite all tribes in the area in an attempt to gain federal recognition. Yet, to this day, their tribal status remains one of the most debated in the United States.

Beyond stereotypes

This legal and political issue is interesting in its own right, but just as important is what Maria’s project has taught her about herself. “Above all, I have learned that I have stereotypical ideas about people I have never met,” she says. “And not only people, but situations as well.

“With this acknowledgement, I try to recognise my stereotypical thinking when it occurs in order to deconstruct it,” she adds. “I want to free myself from preconceived ideas and beliefs, and to do this, I try to train myself to be more open, attentive, and a better listener with each encounter.”

One specific thing Maria has learned is that being unrecognised is not a unique experience for the Lumbees. “There are over 200 unrecognised tribes, spanning from East to West and North to South,” she explains. “If you don’t resemble the stereotypical look of a Native person, people question your identity, lineage, or heritage. But only if you come to talk about identity in the first place. You can be visually ignored at other times because you may pass for black, Latinx or white. People actually don’t recognise you, and that’s a paradox.

“We shouldn’t forget that all Native people, from recognised tribes as well as other minorities, struggle with invisibility and representation,” she adds. “I learned that the invisibility of unrecognised tribes, like the Lumbee, comes in multiple ways.”

For instance, being such a large tribe like the Lumbee means they’re eligible for 70 million dollars a year in federal funds. But that also means they’re perceived as a threat by already-recognised tribes, who risk having to share the little they receive. “This sheds an uncomfortable light on us as human beings in a modern world,” Maria notes.

Clothing paradox

And these things aren’t just complicated on a macro level for Native people, but on a micro level too. She offers an example.

“I photographed Scottie, who is wearing a Redskin Jacket and hat,” she recalls. “Many people find it offensive to wear clothing featuring Native-themed mascots and logos because they represent a harmful relic of the long history of racism and discrimination against Native peoples, racism and discrimination that exists to this day.

“Since the 1960s, Native activists have called for ending the use of Native-themed names, mascots, and logos in American sports. But Scottie was wearing it with pride. He told me: ‘But this is who I am.’ An image like this shows that for some people, their identity manifests in pop-cultural symbols like logos and mascots.”

It also shows another paradox. “People might argue that you can’t be a real Native; you don’t know your history if you present yourself with this type of clothing. The possible reasons why people might wear this kind of imagery aren’t important to some, especially Tribes in the southeast who were in contact with Europeans first and have lost much of their history, not only through assimilation but also through fear living through in the segregated South.”

In short, Maria wonders: Who will judge what is right here? “Most of us also don’t live like we did 500 or 600 years ago!” she points out. “It is so easy for us to judge others not acting like the stereotype we have of them.

“Since Scottie finds strength in this clothing, should he be allowed to wear it? From how people in the community responded to the images I showed them, some wouldn’t share his choice of clothes, but they recognised Scottie as one of them and didn’t judge him for it – they had understanding; they share the struggle.”

What words to use

It’s one of many confusing situations in the modern world, where most of us want to do the right thing, but not everyone knows what that is. Take language. We’ve all gotten used to using the word ‘Native Americans’ in recent years, yet many tribal people prefer the term American Indian (hence the persistence of organisational titles such as ‘Bureau of Indian Affairs’.) Now, though, even newer terms are emerging.

“In the past few years, I’ve noticed a growing shift in using the term Indigenous for self-identification compared to Native American,” says Maria. “One of the protagonists has expressed a preference for pre-colonial American Native rather than American, which I respect.

“For this project, after research and consultation, I decided to use the term Native American as it seems to still be the most widely used and accepted in official texts and publications. However, I felt it important to acknowledge the debate and that this term is imperfect.”

Romania to Germany

All these discussions have also led Maria to look inward. “I’ve also been reflecting on my own identity since I’m originally from Romania, and my mother moved us to Germany in 1991 when I was five years old,” he explains.

“Because of my accent and how I looked, that didn’t fit the stereotypical look of a German person. So, I was often asked where I came from. I recall saying, ‘I come from this city’. Often, the person asking followed up with, ‘No, I meant, where are you really from? Where are your parents from?’ Many times, this bothered me, and I did not want to expose myself, mainly because I just wanted to belong and did not want to be any different from anybody else.

“I share this sometimes unsatisfied feeling of belonging to something that somebody else cannot recognise, as in cannot even see and therefore dismisses, not only with the Lumbee. Identity and the politics surrounding it touch us all. I hope my work can enable the viewer to draw parallels and to see themselves in others.”

You Don’t Look Native to Me is available in a limited edition of 500 copies.

A dog emerged from the dark, stood still a few seconds under the northern lights, then disappeared again into the tundra. Teriberka, Russia, April 2021

‘With the aurora borealis flaming coldly overhead, or the stars leaping in the frost dance, and the land numb and frozen under its pall of snow, this song of the huskies might have been the defiance of life, only it was pitched in minor key, with long-drawn wailings and half-sobs, and was more the pleading of life, the articulate travail of existence.’ From The Call of the Wild by Jack London, 1903; Nanna Heitmann

Photograph: Nanna Heitmann/Magnum Photos

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Photographer Liron Gertsman didn’t intend to photograph a pair of preening Rock Pigeons while out birding one day—he just set out to look for birds. Along the way, he ended up with a shot that wowed the judges of the 2023 Audubon Photography Awards and earned him the grand prize. On a different excursion, an intentional capture of a Northern Hawk Owl also won him an honorable mention in the competition.

This isn’t the first time the 23-year-old nature photographer based in British Columbia won the Audubon Photography Awards. In fact, at just 17 years old in 2018, Gertsman swept the youth category. Gertsman is not only passionate about photographing birds—he also wants others to feel inspired to photograph them and frequently leads bird and nature tours to teach others how to do this.

To learn more about his passion for bird photography and how he captured those winning shots, we chatted with Gertsman on Instagram. You can watch the entire interview here. A curated version of that interview, which has been edited for length and clarity, is included below.

How did you capture that beautiful photo of two Rock Pigeons preening that won you the grand prize in this year’s Audubon Photography Awards?

When I approach bird and wildlife photography, I go out with a very specific kind of idea in mind, a photo that I want to get. But with this picture, it went a little bit differently. Instead of heading out that day with the intention of photographing pigeons, I was just out looking for birds, and I spotted this pair of pigeons sitting on a little post next to a wooden pier. I was immediately struck by the fact that they were being hit by beautiful light. The backdrop behind them was kind of deep in the dark shadows of the pier, so I knew that if I aligned my shot with that dark background, I’d be able to create almost a studio-like effect for the shot. I lined up the shot and the pigeons were allopreening, which is this really beautiful behavior where they groom each other somewhat affectionately. I went in for a close-up and captured this. I really loved how the light made those turquoises and purples in their iridescent feathers really glow and highlighted their beautiful orange eyes.

I also want to add that I thought it was kind of neat that this image was selected because pigeons are a bird that anyone can photograph, right? This is one of the most widespread birds in the world. There was no need to go trek off to some distant place and be traipsing through the forest. This is an urban bird, and I think it really goes to show that there’s incredible natural beauty to be found even in the middle of the city. And there’s great photography potential no matter where you have access to in the world.

What about that Northern Hawk Owl that won an honorable mention in the professional category?

The Northern Hawk Owl photo was completely different because unlike the Rock Pigeons found in the middle of the city, the Northern Hawk Owl is rare and hard to find. And in the photo, the hawk owl was at the tip of this tree covered in frost, a beautiful setting for photography. But a lot of effort went into that. I had found a pair frequenting a really large territory, like ten square miles. In order to find them every day I was on my snowshoes in the middle of winter, and it was well below freezing. I’m traipsing through the snow, and the snow is so deep that with every single step, I was pretty much sinking down to my knees…So those Northern Hawk Owls really made me put the work in. Unlike the pigeons, in this case, I had an idea of the photo that I was going for. I wanted the birds to be small and framed and photographed within the context of their environment because they live in a spectacular environment, and I wanted to showcase that in the photo.

What led you to become a bird and nature photographer?

I largely attribute my passion for birds and photography to the access that I had to the outdoors as a child. I didn’t grow up in a remote place in the middle of nowhere. I grew up here in the city of Vancouver, but in Vancouver, we have great access to green spaces. There’s a lot of parks, and as a five-year-old and younger, my parents would take me out to those parks. We happened to be located on the Pacific Flyway, a bird migration superhighway, so there was always lots to see. And I think it was just having that access to nature where I would encounter birds right in my neighborhood as a kid that really made me fall in love with birds and the natural world and photography. My parents had a little point-and-shoot camera that they would use to take pictures of the family, and I would take that camera and use it to take pictures of the ducks and the crows in the city parks.

Why do you think that bird photography is so important?

I do think bird photography is really important because when you look at the world today, obviously not everything is perhaps as it should be. There’s concerning things happening, whether that’s loss of important bird habitat, changes in the climate—there’s a lot of issues that birds face. And I just barely scratched the surface there. But where bird photography comes in is that I do think that if people are going to want to protect birds and to protect the habitats that they live in, which are also really important natural spaces for us as humans, they need to see [them]. It’s great to be able to go out in person and experience birds and nature in person, but I do think that people have limited time. Nature might not be accessible for everyone, but where a lot of people can experience the natural world these days is on the Internet, on social media. As a bird photographer, I feel that I have a role to capture what I see and a duty to share those pictures so I can perhaps show people how incredible, beautiful, and worth protecting birds are—and maybe even capture some more emotional and powerful images from a photojournalistic perspective to really shed a light on some of the issues that birds face.

Let’s talk about ethics. What are some ways that you practice ethical bird photography while out in the field?

That’s a really important subject to talk about because as bird photographers, we’re trying to be ambassadors for birds. We’re trying to help birds. So when we’re photographing them, we do want to make sure we’re doing so in a way that is having as little of an impact as possible. When I’m out looking for birds and photographing birds, my goal is to try to leave the bird behaving similarly to how I found it. If I find a bird, I don’t want [it] to fly away because I got too close or because I disturbed it in some way. So it’s all about, in my opinion, monitoring behaviors and making sure the bird is acting naturally—it’s not looking alert all of a sudden when I show up. And fortunately, Audubon has amazing ethical bird photography guidelines, which I think are really good guidebooks to learn all about the ethical approach to bird photography.