Field guides & capsules

Trips

Places told as field guides — the plan first, and the photographs the trip leaves behind. Each one also practices one thing worth being able to do.

Pick a day below and the board says which ones actually work, and why the rest don’t. No booking chip on a card means nothing to book — just go.

Going
Register
Effort
Teaches
Been?
Shot · Jul 2026
Los Angeles · Pico · Mid-City · Beverly Hills
Twenty-Six Again
Three elevations, and the flat light that did not turn up
Easy21 mi
Shot · Jul 2026
Los Angeles · San Pedro · Long Beach
Salt and Concrete
A dawn run through the harbor, the ridge left for another day
Real Drive70 mi
Shot · Sep 2026
England · London · Manchester
Blue Moon Rising — England
Ten days car-free — the derby weekend, and a camera the whole way
Weekend
Shot · Dec 2025
Japan · Tokyo · Sapporo · Furano
Dialed In
Coffee dialed one cup at a time, and a first flow on skis
Weekend
Shot · Mar 2025
Japan · Tokyo · Kyoto · Osaka
The Blossom and the Dome
Two tickets, seven of us, and the week between plum and cherry
Weekend
Sat/Sun · no car
Los Angeles · Broadway · Bunker Hill · Echo Park
Ten Minutes on Foot
An 1893 iron atrium, a dollar-fifty funicular, and a lake at the end
No Car1 to book
Not Mondays
Los Angeles · Lake Hollywood · Griffith Park · Los Feliz
The Hill at Both Ends
Sunrise to 22:00 on one hill — the sign at dawn, the Observatory after dark. Not Mondays
Easy40 mi
Any day
Los Angeles · Sepulveda Basin · the Hills · Melrose
Steel and a Pink Wall
A spillway at dawn, a wall before the queue, and four ways of making a hard edge
Easy45 mi
Thu–Sun
Los Angeles · Pasadena · the Arroyo Seco
The Arroyo
A bridge from underneath, a noon tour, and two houses four minutes apart
Easy48 mi1 to book
Saturday
Marin Headlands · San Francisco
The Headland Is Hollow
Gun casemates buried in a hillside, and a cupola of 1,600 coffers across the bridge
Real Drive48 mi
Any Sunday
Los Angeles · Downtown · Boyle Heights · Vernon · Maywood
No One In It
Opie's freeways and Mudford's industrial LA, on the day nobody's there
Easy50 mi
Saturdays only
Los Angeles · Hollywood Hills · West Hollywood · Los Feliz · Silver Lake
Somebody Lived Here
Five houses people lived in, shaped entirely by somebody else's opening hours
Easy50 mi3 to book
Thu–Sat
Los Angeles · LAX · Watts · City Terrace
The Basin Line
Three unlike futures on one line — all shot the same way
Easy54 mi
Any day
Los Angeles · Palos Verdes · Long Beach
Harbor and Headland
A lighthouse behind a fence, four disguised oil islands, and a hill that still pumps
Real Drive55 mi
Friday
Alameda · Richmond · Berkeley · Oakland
Built to Let the Light In
Four buildings letting daylight in, and one built to keep it out
Real Drive62 mi
Thu/Fri/Sat/Mon
Los Angeles · Palisades · Malibu · Point Dume
Coast Road
Two booked doors before noon, then nothing to catch until sunset
Real Drive75 mi2 to book
Saturdays only
Orange County · Garden Grove · Irvine
The New Industrial Parks
Following Lewis Baltz — empty because it's Saturday, which is the point
Big Day95 mi
Not Mondays
Los Angeles · Sylmar · San Francisquito · Agua Dulce
There It Is, Take It
Where the water arrives, what broke, and the rock older than both
Big Day110 mi
Any day
Los Angeles · Northridge · Mount Wilson · Azusa
Above the Basin
Curved glass, the observatory domes, and a dam — each with more sky than the last
Real Drive150 mi
Cool clear days
Antelope Valley · Pearblossom · Mojave
The Long Straight
Hockney's junction — ninety miles out, and the road itself is the subject
Big Day210 mi
Any day
San Jose · Davenport · Moss Landing
From the Road Only
Three things you cannot go into, shot square-on from the public road
Real Drive229 mi
Sep 24–28, 2026
Colorado · Telluride
Telluride — Autumn Classic
Thin air, chrome and canyon, and the quiet half
Weekend5 to book
Any 3 days · Oct–Apr
Trona · Amboy · Kelso Dunes
Nothing Behind It for Miles
Spires, a neon sign and a dune ridge — mostly empty on purpose
Weekend165 mi
Any 2 days · Oct–Apr
Joshua Tree · Landers · Niland · Bombay Beach
Not a Ruin
Purifoy's salvage, a painted hill, and a town that is not abandoned
Weekend175 mi
Nov–Mar
California City · Saltdale · Randsburg · El Paso Mountains
Nothing Was Built Here
A street grid with no houses, and three things that quit
Big Day230 mi
Wed–Fri · booked
San Diego · La Jolla · Torrey Pines
Two Ranks and a Crown
Kahn's empty court, one booked hour of it, and Pereira's crown
Weekend242 mi1 to book
Any 2 days · Oct–Apr
Las Vegas · Boulder City · Hoover Dam
Every Building on the Strip
The Strip as typology, and a dam at dawn from the free side
Weekend270 mi
Any Wed–Sun · Sep–Jun
Palm Springs · Rancho Mirage
Four in the Desert
Four modernist buildings in ten miles, shot as one set
Weekend270 mi1 to book
Jun–Oct · 2 nights
Lone Pine · Bodie · Mono Lake
The Arch, the Towers and the Town
An arch, a dead gold town and the tufa at dawn — summer only
Weekend290 mi
Nov–Mar · 2 nights
Stovepipe Wells · Badwater · Zabriskie
The Far Wall Lights First
One dawn where the far wall is lit and your feet are not
Weekend290 mi
Weekend · check Hwy 1
Santa Barbara · Big Sur · Carmel
Forty Years on One Headland
Weston's headland, and the long road north to reach it
Weekend656 mi
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