"We'd like you to shoot a house in Hollywood Hills."
"I'll clear my schedule"
For me, LA has THE best residential architecture and interior design in the world. The most diverse and interesting. It's everywhere. You can build pretty much anything you want and in the 20th century, the worlds great architects heard that calling loud and clear.
I lived in LA in 94 and 95. Worked in the music industry in Beverly Hills. 90210. All that. I loved everything about LA (less the insane traffic) and I still do. Like other mega-cities, LA is it's own planet.
To return 24 years later and photograph one of the fab LA houses was pure joy. I couldn't schedule it fast enough. And a modern? I'm all in. Two days on site and the nicest clients.
As I flew in to Burbank we started to see the devastating Santa Barbara and Ventura county fires. My heart sank, imagining tragedy, people losing homes and a completely smoked out LA.
This shoot isn't happening.
We were south enough that the Santa Ana's were blowing from the east and were spared the smoky air although you could smell it.
Best wishes to all those affected.
That said, afternoon light in LA is spectacular, even in December. Almost as great as Santa Barbara light, which has more humidity. I arrived after a long and slow morning commute through the hills, off Mullholland to find perfect weather and house orientation conditions. It couldn't have gone better. With permission, I was allowed to shoot it's front exterior from the house across the street's second story porch.. wow.
