Congestion | Iberologística

Please see below the updates on the current situation at the LA/LB ports.

Photographer Mike Kelley brings things into perspective for us all. You can view and comment the full article on his website.

“February 10, 2015

Aerial photography of the labor dispute at the Port of LA and Long Beach

As anyone who follows my work knows, I’m fascinated by industry and infrastructure. For the past few weeks, a labor dispute has been unfolding at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. After flying over the area while coming in to land at LAX, I saw all of these giant container ships anchored offshore and instantly knew that I had to photograph it.

The next day I called my pilot and said ‘when is the soonest we can go up?!’ Less than 24 hours later we were in the air. It was one of the most exciting experiences I’ve had doing aerial photography – being that far out at sea, with the huge swells underneath you, and these massive, massive container ships everywhere was like living a scene out of Walter Mitty’s life.

Cargo ships have been backed up for weeks on end at the ports of LA and Long Beach amid a labor dispute.

The size of these ships blows the mind; many of them are over a thousand feet long.

We photographed them from anywhere between 200 and 5,500 feet, and even at this height the enormous size was something else entirely.

The haze and setting sun created an ethereal mood to all of the pictures.

Cargoes from around the world are backed up right now.

I’ve never seen ANYTHING like this, even rush hour at the 405 doesn’t look so bad.

Colorful and massive, this ship is over 1000 feet from end to end.

From this angle, the scale and size of the city and ships becomes quickly apparent”