My panorama is from Los Angeles, specifically the Encino Ave. Bridge overlooking the Ventura Fwy, the 101, El Camino Real, literally the busiest Freeway in the world. Although the rest of the world is not, and should not be like LA, it is the place "where the pebble hits the pond", from where the ripples emanate and effect all corners of the globe. The internet, Space Shuttle, major media, all originate here to change our pop culture which is then packaged and sold. And it's where the deals are made to exploit all the ideas that come from the rest of the planet. Because it is information central, the switchboard for ideas, it oft times is accused of lacking its own character, or an original idea of its own. But if there is one icon, one common thread that would find this city differing from most others it would be its freeway system. The concrete veins coursing through the body of this city. The diversity here is staggering with over 80 languages spoken in the public schools. The square mileage of humanity alone is hard to fathom. It does go on for miles and miles and miles, a galaxy unto itself. So the freeways tie these miles together, turning what would normally be hours of travel by surface streets into hours of freeway travel. But no matter how long the ride, it's still shorter than "by land" through all the network of neighbor hoods. In that you can liken these freeways to the worm holes of Star Trek. Once inside, it's a common culture, with all of its wonderful hand signals, lane etiquette. Trimmings stripped away, the Toyota tercel holds the same place as the Bentley, all religions reflected in the driving styles of the LA drivers, to travel through our worm hole from our native planet only to arrive on one so different from our own, then jump back into that worm hole to reach home again, each driver captain of his own Starship. One man, one car, our holy right, our very own mother ships. No Orwellian future for those in LA, the only major metropolitan city without mass rapid transit in the world!
And so I chose to shoot the Freeway for this first QTVR world effort.
