May 1, 2011

• Birthday Photopost: Santa Monica

  

  

  Yesterday was the last day of April, and I promised myself I wanted to present one Photopost from one photo expedition each month this year. In January I visited Mission San Juan Capistrano. I posted photos taken at the San Clemente Pier in both February and March. I also had a nice Photopost of cloudscapes I took by the beach after a storm in February. The end of March saw me going into Glendale to visit the Forest Lawn Cemetary in hopes of getting in to see Liz Taylor's crypt (which didn't happen.)

  

  Although gas prices started an interminable rise, I didn't go anywhere for April, but didn't want the month to pass without a PhotoPost. I thought it might be nice to present a "birthday photopost" today, the first Sunday of May, and the day on which I was born a shudderingly long 58 years ago. The last day of April was fantastic. Not a cloud in the sky. And those skies were beautifully clear. Even approaching downtown, you could see the mountainscape in the background. This rarely happens. So around "magic time", 5pm in the early evening, I charged up the camera, hopped in the convertible, and sped (well, except in the stop and go traffic around downtown like shown above) over to Santa Monica.  

  

  Here are some roses planted in the public space alongside Ocean Blvd. in Santa Monica fronting the cliffs above the beach. If you watch the ABC television show, "Private Practice" you might see some familiar scenes in some of these photos. The show is set in Santa Monica. I parked way up on Alta Street, and walked a good way down to the pier. I'd already had my 2 mile walk for exercise earlier in the day, but found myself walking a lot farther than I'd planned, simply because parking in Santa Monica is restricted to those with permits after 6pm, and I wanted to shoot the sunset, so had to go far enough north where they wouldn't give me a ticket. (And of course I didn't want to pay $7.00 for parking!

  

  This piece of public art resembles a peeled onion, and you can walk through it. I liked this photo of all the ones I shot of this area. I've got the camera on the ground, to shoot upwards, but didn't realize I was at an angle. I actually think this "mistake" looks the best of all the shots I took.

   

  An interesting juxtapostion of palms, juniper trees, and the "skin" of the onion, in which I'm standing, shooting into the sky.

  

  I love how during "magic time" in the evening, and also in the early morning, some photos of bright colors, like the greens, reds, and oranges of Pacific Park on the pier, here shot from almost a mile away with a zoom lens, appear to look almost "painted" as if I tweaked them somewhat. I didn't however. The sky and the ocean were really this blue, too. A most excellent evening for photo nuts like me. (And the dozens of others I encountered as well.)

  

  I'm walking down one of the multi leveled stairways leading to one of the walkways over Pacific Coast Highway. I took this same photo expedition back in 2006. It was during the late fall, and there were cloudscapes, but I had my older camera. The photos I took yesterday are much sharper and larger.

  

  This is one of a few dozen shots I got of these wild daisies on the cliffside leading down to the overpass. This shot looks almost "three dimensional" and I prefer it. There's also another shot I took into the sun that looks rather neat, but you'll have to wait till I upload the whole 200 or so photos to Webshots later today to see the other photos of the daisies.

  

  I usually don't composite my photos, except when deliberately creating "artwork". Here I took two separate exposures, and combined them in the computer, so you see the vines alongside this building, and also see the roadway a bit sharper than it is in the photo where the vines are clearer. In that photo, the roadway is washed out. Here both exposures are combined into one photo, a trick many photographers make, but rarely let anyone know about.

  

  Getting the waterfowl to pose for me is one of the most difficult things I encounter when shooting at the beach. These guys were pretty nice. It's against the law to feed the birds, by the way, so I couldn't "treat" them for being so photogenic! But they can take pride that they're featured on my blog!

   

  A shot of some of the folks using the bikeway to get to the pier in the distance.

  

  More seagulls sunning themselves in front of some of the prime real estate fronting the beach. Here you can see the buildings on Ocean Blvd, the cliffs, and the waterfront homes in the same shot.

  

  Now I'm near to the pier, on which Pacific Park stands. I shot a lot of photos of the beachgoers, and this is a neat composition, showing young love.

  

  Last time I posted beach photos, I was asked why I didn't have more shots of "beach bunnies." Well, to tell the truth, this time I did get some nice shots of bikini clad girls in the water, but I was asked to delete them, which I did. I took this shot of the pier and although not in a bikini, the gal is pretty shapely. This summer I do plan on actually asking girls to pose for me for a "swimsuit issue photoblog" and will offer them the URL and ask for a release form with their names and vital statistics, perhaps.

  

  Always lots of interesting performers beachside at any number of beaches in SoCal. This guy is selling copies of his CDs right on the sand! He was a really energetic performer, too.

  

  A clothing stand on the pier, with Santa Monica beach in the background. The sun is starting to get pretty low in the sky by now, perhaps 7:30pm.

  

  Jonathon Livingston Seagull takes a break as the sun reflects on the golden shore.

  

  Here he looks out at the setting sun.

  

  And then he flies away. Nice photo, eh? If you lived here, you'd be home right now.

  

  Another pier performer balances a sword on her head as she shimmies in her belly dance. She's not even "posing" for me either. This is a zoom shot and she just happened to glance right at my camera as I took the picture. There was quite a crowd assembled around her.

  

  Some of the Pacific Park rides and attractions during magic time, before the sun sets completely, and the lights get turned on.

  

  Lots of gulls seem to gather right as the big golden disc sinks over the outcropping in the distance.

  

  Speaking of swimsuit issues, here a photog and his model take advantage of the sunset over her shoulder. I'm shooting this photo of the photographer from up on the pier.

  

  The beachgoers begin to leave. The nighttime crowds begin to arrive. The neon replaces the sunlight, and Saturday night at the pier begins.

  

  I was able to get a few shots while the light was still bright enough that I didn't have to start fiddling with digital camera settings. I'm shooting most of these with the ISO low light setting with no flash. Almost wished I'd shot some video footage of the flashing neon. The side of the ferris wheel itself is quite a show.

  

  I'm a bit disappointed that so many of the light bulbs were out on the iconic pier sign on Ocean Blvd.

  

  Our Lady of Santa Monica stands at the end of Wilshire Blvd. on Ocean. I did use a flash for this photo, among the last I took on a pretty nice photo expedition to Santa Moncia Beach in Southern California on the last day of April  2011. EDIT: 5:49pm. It's slow going, but I'm uploading all the photos I took into my Webshots Gallery Folder entitled: Santa Monica Last Day of April 2011. Also would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone here and on Facebook who has wished me a happy birthday today!

  Posted:  May 01, 2011 11:44 AM

  • 8:50 pm
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