If you are looking for an observation deck in Los Angeles, the one at the top of L.A. City Hall is the best. The magnificent building feature a free, non-de script viewing platform overlooking downtown, the west, the south, and the north. After clearing security, take the elevator to the top floor. Once there, you have to go up one of two staircases to access the deck. It isn’t marked. Once up the steps you’ll be in a small gathering room with tables and chairs. There are doors leading to outside viewing platforms that can maybe hold 6 people each. It was quite odd but wonderful.
On a 2023 trip to Los Angeles, I set aside time to visit the La Brea Tar Pits Museum. This is the most interesting museum I’ve ever visited and is an LA landmark. There are fossils of ancient creatures bubbling up through the asphalt in the ground. In fact, there are random areas on the property that are marked with cones or small fences. Inside the building are numerous beautiful fossils and exhibits.
I visited the most amazing stadium I’ve ever seen. SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles (Inglewood) is the home of the NFL teams Rams and Chargers. This giant stadium seats more than 70000 people for football games and 80000 for concerts.
During the summer of 2023 I had the opportunity for a quick trip to New York City, my sixth. I took my nephew on a sightseeing trip to some of NYC’s most iconic locations. Near the top of that list for me, a concert photographer and concert lover, was touring Madison Square Garden. This is the most famous venue in the world.
On a Monday in July 2023, I found out that I would be going to New York City on Friday. My nephew wanted to surprise his girl friend by showing up a poetry reading. So I went into travel planning mode, and book flights to Baltimore Maryland and Amtrak from Baltimore to New York City. This happened to be the second year is a row that I’ve done this route, so it came easily to me.
Summit One Vanderbilt was a truly life changing night in my life. I knew that New York City’s newest observation deck was going to be unique. This tourist attraction was mind blowing! We timed our entry to coincide with the summer sunset.
In June 2023, I took a 24 hour tip to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. While the purpose of this trip was to hear one of my favorite concert photographers speak, I spent the majority of my time photographing the great tourist destinations that exist in the city. This is a fantastic city full of great attractions for families and solo travelers alike.
Anytime I travel, I like to photography any air and space museums in that city. For my latest endeavor, I spent a few hours at the Palm Springs Air Museum. I am an aviation photographer and felt perfectly at home here photographing vintage aircraft. One of the highlights of my trip to this aviation museum was watching a vintage WWII propellor plane take off in front of the mountains.
In May 2023, we made our way to Nashville Tennessee to see night 3 of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour at Nissan Stadium across the Cumberland River from downtown. We spent the weekend on Broadway and at our hotel, so I decided to shoot some Nashville scenes with my iPhone 14 Pro Max. The photos below were from a beautiful Saturday and a stormy Sunday. Unfortunately, our concert was on Sunday and featured a 3.5 hour performance by Taylor preceded by a 5.5 hour thunderstorm delay.
Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in the heart of Baltimore Maryland, has great things to see and do for all ages. For a professional photographer, it offers everything from tourist attractions to off-limits military cargo ships. On my annual trip the Baltimore City in 2023, we drove around and found lot of really neat subjects to photograph.