Kobe Bryant Memorial Statue

A few months back I was headed to an assignment and noticed a line of people outside Crypto.com Arena. I swung by with my camera after my assignment and followed the crowds to the new Kobe Bryant memorial statue that had just been unveiled. Fans stood in line to make their way up to the statue to get their photograph or video with it. It was a crush of people and it took a long time to get to the statue, but once I got near it, I set up and tried to get some decent interactions before being moved on by the sea of people pushing their way to the statue.

As I was working my way out, I ran into Baseball Head, who I photographed seven years ago during the World Series here in Los Angeles. It was fun to see a familiar face and I asked to make his portrait again. He was super nice and accommodating. It was a little moment in a big city that reminded me of working at the newspapers in Missouri and how connected to the community I had been there through my work. It's one of the best parts of journalism and something I miss dearly, though I'm still able to find moments like that from time to time while working here in Los Angeles.

This was also around the time that the buildings downtown had just been graffitied, which was the real impetus behind stopping to make photographs. I saw the towers just the other day through some apartment windows where I was on another portrait assignment. Still graffitied. It'll be interested to see what their future holds as they sit in a bankruptcy mess. Quite the contrast being across from Crypto.com Arena, but also very LA, being covered in graffiti. Waiting to see them show up as a skateboard level on some future Tony Hawk game.

Anywho - thanks for looking and reading through my ramblings!