Southern California Landmarks – Part 3 Plane Spotting at LAX

I never intended to become someone who stands at a fence waiting for an A380 to pass overhead, but when in SoCal you do SoCal things. Between the beaches, the deserts, and the mountains, there’s this other landscape most people try to ignore: the airport. LAX is unavoidable if you live here, and at some point I stopped treating it as a place to endure and started treating it as a place to photograph.

I have never been too much into plane spotting. But a couple of years back Long Beach airport put out a spotting location that had shade and I got the email. So I thought, okay, let me go and try that out one day, and it started there. LAX, as I said before, has always been a place which I go to when I have to travel somewhere, and I had never really thought of it as a place to photograph. Once I started posting some plane photos the Instagram gods decided to show me LAX plane spotting photos, and I have been hooked ever since.

This one covers the four spots I’ve actually shot from at LAX, and the one I keep meaning to try. I

In-N-Out Burger — Sepulveda

Everyone knows this spot. The In-N-Out on Sepulveda sits right at the approach for the north runways, and if you’re lucky you get arrivals on 24R or 24L passing basically overhead. This is the Instagram location, most frequented by everyone wanting that iconic shot of the plane flying just above the In-N-Out sign. This is where I started. The first time I visited I went in the morning and it was a big dud. On some days, due to wind, they do reverse operations, and in this case the planes take off in this direction, and it was a huge miss.

The second time I went in the evening and I captured all the standard Instagram shots, and it was fun to shoot. This is the place you go to for minimum effort and maximum reward.

Photographically, it’s a mixed bag. You’re close — sometimes too close for a clean frame unless you’re packing something wide. If you walk a little farther down the road you can get perfect shots of the planes so close you think you can reach out and touch them.

Gear

For this spot I used the Fuji X100VI. I was able to frame planes flying with the In-N-Out sign in front as well as a clean hot of the planes flying over me as well. The fixed 23mm lens is ideal for the wide contextual stuff here.

Time of Day

The light is best in late afternoon when the approach path is backlit, but honestly, any time there’s traffic on the north side it’s worth stopping for. Avoid mornings unless you have confirmed arrivals are landing from the west; reverse ops will send takeoffs your way instead.

Parking

Parking is a bit tricky here, and in the evenings the free parking near In-N-Out fills pretty quickly. Do not park in the parking structure nearby, as I found out the last time I went that I had to pay close to 35 dollars for an hour. If you drive a bit further there is a Vons / CVS, and you can park in the parking lot. Just don’t leave it overnight, and patronize the businesses there.

Clutter’s Park

If the In-N-Out is the tourist spot, Clutter’s Park is where you go to see the hardcore enthusiasts at work. It’s a small park up on the bluff in El Segundo, overlooking the south runways, and the elevation changes everything. You’re not looking up at planes anymore — you’re looking across at them, which means side profiles, gear shots, and the kind of clean background you can’t get from street level.

What I like about Clutter’s is the relatively clean sight lines, and you do not seem like the odd person out. Most people here have a better rig than me and they discuss fervently on liveries and schedules.

Gear

I usually bring the Fuji X-T3 with the 70-300mm and a 2x teleconverter here. With the APS-C crop and the doubler, you’re looking at an effective reach of roughly 210-900mm, which sounds like overkill until you realize how much air you need to cross to fill the frame. The compression matters because you’re farther from the action than you think, and you want to stack the aircraft against the runway or the terminal behind it.

Time of Day

I have been here only in the evening and it works out great till we start approaching sunset. I got some good shots close to golden hour. I have to try a morning shoot here. There are benches here , so you can settle in for a longer session without looking like you’re loitering.

Parking

Most times you can find parking on the road or on one of the side streets. It has never been a hassle for me.

Westchester Parkway Bridge

This is the least known of the four, and the one that feels most like a local secret. The bridge on Westchester Parkway crosses Lincoln Boulevard just west of the airport, and from the pedestrian walkway you get a direct view of the approach lighting for the north runways. It’s not elevated like Clutter’s, but the angle is different — lower, more dramatic, with the approach lights leading the eye straight to the aircraft.

I was reading some blogs by other plane spotters and found this location. Approaching this is a bit tricky, as you cannot park here. The other challenge with this location part from the parking is that it’s isolated, and sometimes you can see a lot of people, and on some days you are the only person here.

Gear

The Fuji X-T3 with the 70-300 with and without 2x teleconverter is the right tool here — you’re close enough to read the titles on the fuselage as the gear comes down, and the long reach lets you compress the aircraft against the approach lights and bridge structure.

Time of Day

Late afternoon and early evening work well here. The low sun sidelights the fuselage as the aircraft turns onto final, and the approach lights start to glow as it goes closer to sunset..

Parking

You have to park somewhere near the Airport Police station or one of the roads nearby there and walk. Plan on a five- to ten-minute walk to the bridge.

LAX Economy Parking — The Roof

This is the most urban-explorer feeling of the four. The economy parking structures south of the airport have rooftop levels that look directly across at the south runways, and from up there you get a perspective most travelers never see. It’s not pretty — concrete, light poles, the industrial backside of an airport — but that’s exactly what makes the frames interesting.

Security is the question everyone asks. I have not seen any issues in the couple of times I have been here. I was there when Air Force One flew in and there were a lot of people and no one bothered us.

Gear

This is a telephoto location. The same Fuji X-T3 with the 70-300mm and 2x teleconverter setup works well here. You need the reach to pull aircraft out of the industrial clutter and compress them against the skyline or terminal buildings.

Time of Day

The light here is harsh for most of the day. I have been here mostly in the evenings, and with my long lens, approach shots are gorgeous, but landing shots have harsh sun and they do not work really well. Blue hour is worth sticking around for — the terminal lights come up and the sky goes cobalt behind the aircraft.

Parking

Parking is a bit expensive. I think it was 15 dollars an hour the last time I was there. Factor that into your session length.

The One I Haven’t Done Yet: Proud Bird

The Proud Bird is a food hall and events space with an outdoor observation deck, and it’s been on my list for months. The appeal is obvious — you can sit outside with actual food and drink, watch arrivals on the south side, and do it in relative comfort. No parking structure fumes, no bridge traffic, no fence line.

I haven’t been yet because I haven’t found the time to do it, but this is on my bucket list.

What You Actually Need

You don’t need much. For the telephoto locations I ran a Fuji X-T3 with the 70-300mm and a 2x teleconverter, which gives an effective reach of roughly 210-900mm in full-frame terms. That sounds excessive, but at Clutter’s Park or the Economy Parking roof you need every millimeter to fill the frame. For the wide contextual stuff — In-N-Out, mainly — I used the Fuji X100VI and its fixed 23mm lens. Two bodies, no bag-swapping, and you’re covered from 35mm to 900mm equivalent.

The thing about photographing at LAX is that it’s never the same place twice. The runway in use changes, the airlines change, the light changes, and somehow the same patch of sky or concrete feels completely different from one visit to the next. I keep coming back because there is something genuinely interesting and thrilling about aviation.