I was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Spent 15 years there. I didn't enjoy it much.

I'd never explored the city's nooks and crannies. I'd ignored the diverse cultural experiences. I'd taken the incredible food for granted. Now, when I come back to visit, I've begun to realize what I was missing.

My partner and I were driving down from the Bay Area. Weather looked clear, blue, and hot for most of the week. I almost didn't bring my camera at all. Right before leaving, I just thought, what the heck, and put the bag in the trunk.

About halfway down, one of my clients back home asked me about a moonrise alignment over San Francisco. It then hit me: we should be in town right around 8:15pm, and moonrise is 8:45... why don't we hunt it over LA?

We spent the next hour scouring Google Earth for places that would line up. Things only looked to line up over downtown from the mansions in the Hollywood Hills. I hadn't spent much time here before, but I remembered it being home to private property, security cameras, and tall fences. We identified one potential spot, standing in the middle of a street on a hill steep enough to get us a view over the fences below. Of course, we were cutting it a little close to go in blind... but we didn't have much to lose!

We drove up the final road, not totally sure if we were supposed to be there or not. I came around the corner that I'd scouted, and this incredible vista filled the rear view mirror. There was nowhere to pull over, so I started to turn around. Another car appeared. It was another photographer, who had taken the same gamble. Safety in numbers, I guess?

We hardly had time to greet one another before another car came around the corner. This one wasn't a photographer. "What's going on here?"

"Well, we think the moon is going to rise right over downtown in a few minutes, and it's going to be amazing!"

"Oh, enjoy!" We were good to go. The moon came up right as planned. Thanks to a low pressure trough that had just blown through, the skyline was clearer than I'd ever seen it in the summer months. Everything fell into place, and I quickly took this panoramic image, thankful for the opportunity to photograph here, and headed home to meet my family for dinner. We were late, and they had eaten without us, but it all worked out in the end.

So, here we have it: a billion dollar view!