Highland Park homes, from the cedar shingle to the view
Craftsman bungalows, cedar-shingled cottages and hillside lots with a view, near York Boulevard and Figueroa Street. Photos, video and drone in one visit.
Cedar shingle, tile steps and the hill behind
Highland Park buyers shop the neighborhood as much as the house. York Boulevard for dinner, Figueroa Street for the Highland Theatre and Highland Park Bowl, the Metro A Line station for the ride downtown. A listing that shows the house and hints at the block answers those questions before anyone asks. We shoot photos, video and drone in one visit. You'll have photos and drone the next morning, and the listing video follows in 2 to 4 business days.
The housing stock is mixed in a good way. There are Craftsman bungalows with deep porches, Spanish revival houses with tile and stucco, and a few Victorians, the kind preserved at Heritage Square on the Arroyo Seco. Then there's the shingle. We shot a cedar-shingled house on a hillside lot at twilight: a lawn under fruit trees, a deck with French doors, and a front stair covered in Spanish tile with a fountain beside it. Every one of those details belongs in the listing.
The hills are the other half of the story. Streets climb toward Mount Washington and Garvanza, and from a deck you can look over the rooftops to the mountains. Glassell Park and Eagle Rock are the next hills over, and South Pasadena and Pasadena are a short drive up the Arroyo Seco. A drone pass shows how the lot steps down the slope and, on the right street, where downtown sits on the horizon.
Stained shingle soaks up light. Put a camera in a room with dark wood, small windows and a bright yard outside, and the room goes muddy while the window blows out. We bracket the exposures and balance the lamps, so the wood keeps its color and the room still looks like the one a buyer would walk into.
Twilight does the most work on a shingled house. In the frame we shot, the cedar turns a deep red, the windows glow and the sky goes pink behind the cypress. A twilight exterior gives a hillside cottage the front photo a new build gets for free.
Shingle at twilight, and the view from the red deck
Coverage for steep lots and old wood
Photography
Rooms that keep their warm wood and honest color, with the deck and the yard shot like part of the house.
Learn moreListing video
A walk from the tiled front steps through the French doors and out to the deck, in the order a buyer would take it.
Learn moreAerial & drone
Shows how the lot steps down the hill, how close the neighbors sit and, on the right street, the skyline in the distance.
Learn moreWhat does Highland Park real estate photography cost?
The same as anywhere in LA: priced by the home's size. Photos start at $250, and listing packages run from $650 (Standard) to $2,200 (Signature). You see your exact price before you book.
How do you handle narrow hillside streets and parking in Highland Park?
Tell us about the street when you book: a steep driveway, permit-only parking or a long flight of stairs to the door. We plan the load-in around it and park where the street allows. A tight hillside street doesn't slow delivery. Photos and drone are in your inbox the next morning.
Do small rooms and older floor plans photograph well in a Highland Park bungalow?
Yes. Craftsman and Spanish bungalows often have small rooms, low ceilings and a hallway or two. We shoot from the corners with a wide but natural lens, so a small room feels like itself and buyers see how one space leads to the next. The built-ins, the arches and the original windows stay in the frame.
Can you fly a drone over a hillside house in Highland Park?
In most cases, yes. We check the airspace for each address before a flight, and our pilots are FAA Part 107 licensed. On a hill lot the drone shows how the yard steps down the slope, how the street climbs and, from the right height, the mountains and the downtown skyline beyond the rooftops.
How do you photograph a dark shingled house at twilight?
We start the rooms earlier in the day, then wait for the sky. With every lamp on and the cedar still holding some color, the windows glow and the shingle turns deep red against a pink sky, the way it did on a hillside house we shot with French doors and a tiled front stair. The twilight frames are the last ones of the day.
Which Highland Park neighborhoods do you cover?
We cover Highland Park, from the York Boulevard and Figueroa Street corridor to the hillside streets, plus Mount Washington, Garvanza, Glassell Park and Eagle Rock around it.
Up the Arroyo Seco to Pasadena, over the hills to Silver Lake
“I'm glad I hired him for the photography of my listing in Highland Park. He was very professional, helpful, and on time”