Levitated Mass Arrives to LACMA (Updated Photos and Video)

                                             
The 340 ton boulder known on the streets of L.A. as "the Rock," finally arrives at LACMA. It took an 11 night journey through out Southern California.  There was little fanfare out front of LACMA, but the Rock did arrive to cheers from several hundred L.A. residents who braved the late night and chilly air.

The Rock making it's last turn on to Fairfax.

Not impressed.

The moving crew.

The Prophet Jesus blessing the Rock.

Rock watchers at Johnie's

Making a turn on to Wilshire Blvd. from Western Ave.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2012

The Rock Rolls Through the Hood

The 340 ton rock that will make up "Levitated Mass" at LACMA is parked in the middle of the road at Figueroa Street near Gage in South Central L.A.
Area residents stopped by and snapped photos of the giant rock and transport vehicle.
The rock is expected to reach LACMA sometime early Saturday morning.

The mass levitated on Fig.

Local TV news with a live broadcast.

Watching the rock.

Rollin' by the rock.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2012

March Meet at Famoso Raceway

Top fuel dragsters and funny cars at the March Meet held at the Auto Club Famoso Raceway.

Funny car action, War Horse.

T/F dragsters running the full 1320'.

Staging a funny car.

Vintage machine running the 1/4 mile.

Mendy Fry in the "Forever Young" T/F dragster.

 "War Horse" about to have an interesting day.

"War Horse" having an out-of-body experience at the finish line.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2012

Andrew Breitbart Dead at Age 43

Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart died in his sleep last night inside his Los Angeles home shortly after midnight. In a statement form his pr people, Andrew died of natural causes at the age of 43.
Andrew posted an explicit nude image of US Rep. Anthony Weiner which led to the congressman's downfall.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2011

Andrew Breibart at Occupy L.A. 

Andrew Breibart interviewing Occupiers.

Levitated Mass Moves

A giant rock weighing over 340 tons begins it's journey to LACMA as part of a new art exhibit called "Levitated Mass." The 21 1/2 foot tall boulder will take 11 nights to move from it's original home in a Riverside rock quarry.
The pace of the rock's movement will be around 4-6 miles per hour, and will go through city streets, not the highways. Electrical wires, lighting and other street obstacles need to be removed from the giant rock's passage way.
A local woman came out to visit the rock, which is parked on a dirt lot in Glen Avon, she wanted to know what cut her cable reception off. She took several images and was impressed by the giant monolith.
The custom made trailer looks to be over 100' long. The rock is covered in plastic to protect it from taggers and other hazards.
Click on images to see bigger.

The whole kit and kaboodle.

The Levitated Mass cradled in a custom made trailer.

Parked in a open field.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2012

Serene Super Yacht In L.A.

The Serene an impressive, $300 million dollar, 7 level, 440 foot long super-yacht has been docked all over the Los Angeles coast line this week. The Serene is the 9th largest super-yacht in the world and is owned by Russian vodka (Stoli) tycoon, Yuri Scheffler.
There is also a rumored post Oscar party to be held on her later this evening.
Yes, that is a Eurocopter on her bow.

The Serene.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2012

Happy Birthday Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams was born on this day back in 1902.
I just got back from Yosemite National Park and shot this image of Half Dome.

Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.

Ted Soqui © 2012

The Giants of New York

The New York Giants football team paraded down the Canyon of Heroes today in downtown NY.

A city of champions.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2012

MLK Day Parade In LA

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade in South Los Angeles.
Thousands of people lined up on MLK blvd. from Western to Crenshaw to watch bands and floats pass by.

Los Angeles Unified All District Band.

Parade watchers on MLK Blvd.

Korean dancers.

Tuskegee Airmen in their float.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and his motorcycle which he drove in the parade.

LA Sheriff Lee Baca on a low-rider bicycle.

Occupy the Hood on Western and MLK Blvd.

Belize float.

Parade participants.

Crenshaw High School band.

Parade watcher on MLK Blvd.

More fun than the Rose Parade.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2012

Join Me On January 14

ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUST OCCUPY EXHIBIT
Christopher Felver and Ted Soqui, Just Occupy exhibit.

January 14 - January 28, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 7:00 – 10:00 pm opening night.
ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY Bergamot Station Arts Center 2525 Michigan Ave. / D5 Gallery Santa Monica, CA 90404
11 – 6, Tuesday – Saturday 310-315-1937 Email: info@robertbermangallery.com

ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY presents JUST OCCUPY - an exhibition documenting the Occupy movement featuring photojournalists Ted Soqui and Christopher Felver.
In the spirit of the Occupy movement, Robert Berman Gallery at Bergamot Station Arts Center will be holding a pop-up exhibition titled JUST OCCUPY featuring the photojournalistic, yet intensely striking photographs by Los Angeles photographer Ted Soqui. Soqui is a seasoned Los Angeles photojournalist, whose photographs were featured in the New York Times, LA Weekly and other international journals around the world.

Ted Soqui’s iconic photograph of the female protester with the 99% bandana, knit cap and shockingly intense eyes was chosen by artist Shepard Fairey for the cover of TIME magazine’s person of the year. The image is now the symbol for the Occupy movement, not only from Wall Street, but from Arab Spring to Athens to Moscow.

JUST OCCUPY will be the first exhibition and documentation of the Occupy LA phenomenon, which lasted longer than the Wall Street occupation, of which all images are intense, provocative and beautiful.
Also featured in JUST OCCUPY will be a series of photographic collages by photojournalist Christopher Felver, who is known for his documentary photographs of the beats, poets and musicians.These photos from his Ordered World series show a stark contrast to the narrative photos of Ted Soqui, yet have a different impact by showing the force of simple words when joined together such as: JUST PEACE, JUST WAR, JUST 99%, JUST OCCUPY.

JUST OCCUPY will open in conjunction with Photo LA on Saturday, January 14th, 2012.

LA Weekly Cover Jan 6-12, 2012

Made the cover of this week's LA Weekly.
The cover was designed by Darrick Rainey and the story was written by Tibby Rothman.

Merry Christmas To All

...and to all a goodnight.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2011

Santa Ana Winds Visit LA

Santa Ana winds, with gust as high as 70 miles per hour, race across Los Angeles county.
The Santa Anas, also know as "Devil Winds," knocked over a giant 100 foot tree in Glendale just in time for Christmas. Power and local services were shut down and some residents were evacuated due to a possible gas leak.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2011

Before The Shot (Update)

Here is a visual timeline of images right before "the shot" that was used to illustrate Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2011 "The Protester."
I started off with a wide angle lens and wasn't really feeling the image. Once Sarah Mason put on her bandana, which was soaked in vinegar just in case the LAPD decided to use tear gas on her and her fellow protesters, I knew it would have to be a tight shot. Immediately I switched to a 70-200 zoom lens and shot about 5 frames of Sarah close up. The "one" shot stood out to me instantly and I knew no more needed to be taken.

Update:

Found an image of Sarah marching in downtown LA taken a month before "the shot." Was going through my archives looking for another image and ran across this one.

One month before taking" the shot" at a protest in downtown LA. Sarah (L) marching. 10-15-2011

Wide angle. 

Still wide.

Adding vinegar to their bandanas.

A wide tight shot, still not quite right.

Went wide once again.

Right before 'the image."

Time cover.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2011