Behind the Camera : Lost in Hollywood

I was recently lucky enough to attend the Unity Vision Summit in Hollywood Los Angeles thanks to some funding from the UK Royal Academy of Engineering. As fantastic as that conference was, it’s not the story I want to write about now.

I’d managed to secure myself four days for this trip, two would be taken up by the conference, one by a completely necessary trip to Disneyland and the final just for wondering around Hollywood before my departure back to the cold, gloomy UK leaving the beautiful LA sunshine behind me. Having not had many opportunities to do any, what I would call, “proper” photography as of late there was one shot I was determined to try and get during my visit. A panorama of the LA skyline from behind the Hollywood sign.

My initial research raised a lot of potential pitfalls for this attempted shot as it turns out the locals of the Hollywood sign have been waging an ongoing war with tourists attempting to visit the sign by campaigning for the closure of routes and access but a day before I left for my trip I was able to find the recommended route, the Hollyridge Trail, that starts at the end of Beachwood Drive.

With limited time to act and a fairly set plan of what I was doing each day I decided the best time to attempt this photo was at the end of the second day of the conference that should leave me enough time to complete the 1.5 mile route and reach the sign by sunset and after a slightly hairy Uber ride to the Sunset Ranch that marked the beginning of the trail, I was on my way.

The trail itself is very enjoyable, despite the slightly worrying sign warning of mountain lions and rattlesnakes, and gives fantastic views over the city but the views reaching the peak are simply phenomenal. I ended up spending around an hour at the peak behind the sign shooting the sunset and city lights and it was an incredible experience just being able to sit there and take it all in.

Unfortunately the sign is now fenced off and you are unable to get near it (I’ve heard armed police are involved if you do attempt to) which does mar the resulting photos slightly but nothing a heavy amount of photoshop clone stamping and several hours of your life can’t attempt to fix.

Getting back to civilisation was a feat in itself though. Having spent around an hour at the peak shooting the sunset and ensuing city lights as darkness crept in I realised it was probably time to go. In a moment of brief forward thinking I had managed to remember to pack a head-torch with me for the trip but had, stupidly, underestimated just how dark it can get on these trails. Cue me spending a mile and a half fumbling my way through the dark attempting to stick to the correct trail while expecting to get attacked by a mountain lion or rattlesnake at any moment. It really was one of those moments of brilliant clarity where I analysed everything that had lead me to that moment and how incredibly dangerous it was doing what I was doing  completely on my own. There’s wild animals, the path is pretty uneven in places and for most of it the edge of the path just leads to a straight drop down in to the canyon. But there we go, I’m still here, I’m still in one piece and a did make it back down with no issues despite a brief encounter with a coyote who thankfully ignored me and I then enjoyed a slow walk back to my hotel for the next five miles.

I made a really stupid decision that night leaving it so late to leave the sign especially with being on my own, but you know what? It was completely worth it. Life’s all about the memories we make for ourselves and it’s these experiences that define who we are. I think I got a great story out of this trip and I love the photo I got from it and that’s what matters to me. Eventually I’ll get this shot printed and hung in my apartment somewhere and it will bring back the memories of that evening every time I look at it.