‘The Cadillac, the shadow, the LA sky – it was all laid out for me': Phil Stockbridge's best phone picture

The Guardian

5 days ago

His usual way of taking photos, Phil Stockbridge says, is like an angler waiting for a fish. The LA-based photographer had been working on a commercial shoot on the day he landed this image. 'When I find something interesting to shoot, the main thing that starts to churn in my brain is light and composition. A lot of the time the subject's missing and I'll sit and wait like a fisherman for the right person or car to make the image. Luckily, for this scene, it was all laid out for me.'
Stockbridge believes this to be a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, and notes how he was drawn by 'the shadow of a parking sign, the street lamp in the distance, the LA sky, a slouched fence and the edge of the sidewalk. A Long Beach day turning into a Long Beach night is on full display here. The traffic's dying down, it's getting quieter, cooler. The sun has set and all that's left of it remains in the dark blue sky.'
Stockbridge took the image on his phone, later applying edits using VSCO and Lightroom. 'I hope someone seeing this feels a calm washing over them,' he says, 'but I never take photos with the intention of making the viewer feel something. That stuff finds its way afterwards.'