Not So Basic Basics
/When I was growing up, my dad's office was near the Orange County airport. The parking lot on the backside of the office complex basically looked out on the fields where the runways are, and when we would visit him at work, we would go out and watch the planes landing and taking off. We take airplanes for granted as adults, they lose some of their excitement. But if you stop and think about it: hundreds of tons of metal and parts and people and luggage are flying, controlled, through the air. Defying gravity. We are not birds, but up there we are.
I now live about 10 minutes from Los Angeles International Airport, which also happens to be next to the closest In'N'Out burger. I think it has got to be one of the busiest In'N'Outs (I'd be curious to know if it or the Barstow one, on the way to Vegas, does more business.) There is a small park of grass next to the diner, basically across the street from the airport. There are runways several hundred yards away, and the flight path for some of them is basically overhead. We have gone once before and picnic dinner-ed there with my son, but as he gets older, it gets more and more fun for him. We went again last night. And it is amazing to share in the excitement and wonder he is experiencing when the airplanes are coming in over us. It brings back the excitement I remember as a kid at my dad's office. It's just such fun experiencing life again with a child of my own.
We took these images in downtown Culver City, across the street from Sony Studios. Culver City has a long history with the motion picture industry, and there are little reminders around town, such as this ginormous old reel camera. Couldn't shoot there without taking a picture with it!