Nightly adventures and my directional prowess

So I'm officially obsessed with night photography now. Let's see, I've been out for 7 consecutive nights now. Wow. I didn't even realize it had been a week. Anyways, here's what I've been up to since last time (which I still have sore calves from. Walking from Ave 64 to Colorado Blvd and back...probably a dumb idea.)

Friday night was a different kind of night photography...beach bonfire kind.

No nighttime partner for tonight, but I filled my day going to the Huntington Library's new exhibit "This Side of Paradise" showing photos representing LA from the mid 1800s to the present. Google Maps lost me on the way there; I swear they're as bad as mapquest now. Way old-fashioned, but my trusty road map saved me from having to give up in a fit of frustration. Ha, I feel so accomplished when I can find my way by my map. ANYWAYS, the exhibit was pretty damn good, plus afterwards I braved the day's stifling heat to see the Chinese Garden, which wasn't open last time I was here.

Oh hey, I keep forgetting to mention this...but I don't put EVERYTHING from every escapade on here. If you ever want to see more, I put more photos on my deviant art account: photophanatic.deviantart.com. Later!

Ughhh...

Won't be able to go up the coast this weekend; the roommate wants to save money for bills instead of paying for a train ticket, and since it was her stepbrother we were visiting...Ordinarily, I'd just drive up on my own but good lord, the GAS!! And when you don't have a particularly lucrative job, well...I'm pretty much stuck for now. Oy vey. Well, I'm still hunting down photo job ops, and am doing my bartender training next week it looks like. So wish me luck.

Out and About in Eagle Rock

Finally got to some of the places in my new neighborhood that I hadn't had a chance at. Went to a spooky-looking cathedral, old-fashioned looking diner, a small club, and a stairway near the club.



I have to go back to the area with these lions because there's also a giant cartoon chicken on the roof 2 blocks away, but...it was night and not the safest of areas. Have to go back with a burly bodyguard. There's also the craziest building ever, a bright orange Buddhist temple. I'd like to get a shot of that during the day and night.





So what's up next? Morro Bay for the weekend is looking definite. Really, I can't pass up the opportunity; SoCal is burning me out right now. And if I go hopefully I can get the missions in the San Luis Obispo area.

First Forays into the night...

Night photography, that is. When I was visiting San Diego this weekend, I did my first attempts at night photography. I'm pissed that I forgot to bring my digital with me the first night though; I was distracted though! So now I have to wait on the color negs of those and hope they turned out decently. BUT I have the digital versions from Saturday night (when I went photographing after a pool party, alone, in a damp bathing suit and cover-up. I swear I'm sane.)


A church near Southwestern College. Fire station along Bonita Road.

I'm hoping to venture out again maybe Thursday night because there's a ton of great places just by my new apartment that I've been aching to get my lens on. There's just something about being out in the dark when it's all quiet, in the moments your eyes aren't darting around checking for shady characters, that takes the edge off the day. Or maybe that's just me; I'm naturally nocturnal.

Catch-Up, Part II

Late April I go to the San Fernando mission in Mission Hills. Not one of the more impressive ones, but I found some interesting points. Anyone know Bob Hope has a huge memorial here? I didn't.








The Bob Hope Memorial


Sorry, I just found this funny.





Early May, it was off to San Gabriel mission, near to Pasadena.








I hadn't heard much talk about this one; I'd even heard it was unimpressive. But once I saw the gardens and cemeteries, I had to disagree. SG marked the end of the missions for me, at least related to school.

This summer marks a whole new territory for me,though. Not only do I not have summer school, I am now PERMANENTLY out of school! Which leaves me a lot more time to work on my projects. Next weekend I may head up to Morro Bay, and tackle the missions in the San Luis Obispo area on the way. Thanks to some of my photo-friends influence, I'm starting out with night photography too. So hopefully I've got some new stuff up soon.

Let's Get Caught Up...

I'll start off playing catch-up with some of my photos from my Salton Sea/Joshua Tree trip from
January.

Here's Becca, at the top of Mt. Ryan.

This is one of my photo-mates, Paul. Dressed up like a robot climbing a rock in Joshua Tree. Don't ask.


I found the Salton Sea the most inspiring, although I think I'll have more ideas for my next trip to Joshua Tree now that I'm familiar with it. Some places just require more time in the particular atmosphere.

This was on our way home to LA county, stopping around the Yucca Valley area where's there are all these solar-powered (I think) windmills. Just hills and hills of them. Amazing.


Next would be when I decided to make my final project for my documentary class about the California missions. Or at least the ones I could make it to. I started off at the end of March with San Juan Capistrano, "jewel of the missions". I probably haven't been here in over 10 years, but after visiting and re-visiting 8 of the SoCal missions, SJC really is the most beautiful.

Here's Diana in front of an outdoor stagelike structure. Kinda reminds me of the photo by Annie Leibowitz of Susan Sontag in front of Petra.






After SJC, I started off spring break by visiting the fam in San Diego,which gave me the perfect opportunity to visit San Luis Rey in Oceanside. I sound macabre,but you'll soon see how I have a fetish for graveyards, and SLR has a pretty nice one.






After SLR, the real trip began...San Buenaventura, Santa Ines, Santa Barbara, and La Purisima





Another nice cemetery...this one at Santa Ines.










Santa Barbara grounds and cemetery.


La Purisima is so unique...for one thing,it's main building is bright pink. Plus it's in this long shape in the middle of a field, not any city sights nearby. It also still keeps farm animals running around.

La Purisima was the last mission I visited during spring break. I visited 2 more during April and May to round out my project.

OK...well, this will have to be Part I for now. It's late and I've got an interview tomorrow. I'll try to post about San Gabriel and San Fernando, as well as my travel plans for the near future, tomorrow.