Santa Monica Pier on a Cold and Lonely Night

The view from our budget hotel on Redondo Beach Drive was a bit surreal. The beach was many miles away and there was no shopping or nearby attractions, making me wonder what might have possessed anyone to build a hotel in such a place…But having settled in, we decided to go to Santa Monica Pier for dinner in the evening. And that’s when things got really strange…

It seemed a bit ghost-y, all candy coloured, but somehow toxic… and if this was an amusement park – where are all the people???
There were a few stragglers and lost souls wandering around, including a little girl looking for some answers wherever she could find them…
But she couldn’t tell me what it was all about either since I have forgotten how to speak Threeish.

Even the beach has gone mad,

Yeah… I know… first Big and then Forrest Gump… it is LA we’re talking about here… I felt a wee bit of relief when we left… I mean, it was cool, but kinda creepy… like everyone was out of town……….

A grave situation

A bit of light-painting in the cemetery at twilight…

The old section of Waikumete is deliberately allowed to go feral in the spring and summer – it’s a wild and slightly spooky place, fragrant with wildflowers and allergy-inducing pollens. But to be there at night with the moon overhead…

Sydney Harbour Bridge

For someone who had no interest in Sydney, I have to admit, I really fell in love with the place… It’s a no matter where you turn there is something interesting, amusing, slightly shocking, cute, awful, amazing… it’s just that kind of place. I’ve heard a few people compare it unfavourably to New York… That does both cities a grave injustice…

The Station

Can never resist a good reflection shot. And yes, I flipped it so the letters went the right way. Sue me…

Torch-Painted Tree

Haven’t really done much light-painting, though I did set-up a photography business at one point called LightPainters – but that’s another story.

This tree was in a dark, pretty much deserted carpark on Saturday night. There were a few streetlights a few blocks away, but other than the stars, there was no other source of light. I pulled out my tripod and set up my camera and did a long exposure, but the tree was still dark and the street lights were blown out. My husband had just bought a new high-powered torch, which he was inordinately fond of shining into my eyes, tempting his fate for sure… (you would think a man of his age would know better…) I asked him to put it to some good use and shine it on the tree. At first he refused. It may have been powerful enough to blind me and get me a  bit grumpy, but a huge tree like this? I am sure he would have preferred to keep shining it on me, but he relented and began painting the tree… there and there and there, and oh – don’t miss there. Do that some more. Yeah, I like that…

I like how it all turned out. And he gets to keep his torch.

Dreamboats

Cold winter night – about three degrees. Nothing was stirring, not even a breeze.

No, I’m not going to segue into a riff on the Night Before Christmas, though it’s the right bloody temperature down here.

And if it was cold, I was properly dressed – right down to my fingerless gloves, Latvian red wool hat (Latvians have great hair and even better hats!), faux pashmina scarf and about 5 layers. Oh yeah, then there was the camera bag, lenses, cleaning stuff, torch, filters, other crap I never use but bring ‘just in case.’ And the thermos of hot tea. And Bobby’s water bottle. And some of his to-die-for onion & garlic rolls, and some fresh fruit. And an extra scarf and little blanket. And the tripods (super heavy duty as I have murdered 2 already) one for him and one for me.

We headed down to the waterfront, about half an hour from Titirangi, 90 minutes early, planning to get a few shots of the sunset on the water. Brought a map (of course) but managed to get lost in the warren that is a working waterfront (as opposed to a tourist/transport waterfront) and got caught in a series of one-way detours that gave us a quick tour of the area suburbs – twice. He was driving, I was navigating, always a test of the state of a marriage. If you’ve got issues – that’s enough of a pressure cooker to make them erupt. We’re good. I think the maximum level of tension was expressed in a two decibel or so increase in voice and about 15 seconds of deathly silence.

We arrived – ten minutes early (or 80 minutes late?) Got ourselves geared up, met up with some friends and off we went, looking like we’re just so hip and together and fabulous, and cool. And Hey! We were cool. It’s just the back story that isn’t so cool. But look at that photo? Only a very cool photographer could have taken that. And last night – it was me! He he!

Click to see the large version!

At the Airport

Went to the airport tonight
to watch the planes take off.
I wasn’t on a single one of them
but I wish I was.