A Photographic and Cinematic Adventure On The Creative Frontier
This is how we walk the dog here in Colorado! The Great Sand Dunes are incredible, and if you are ever visiting here make sure you schedule them up. Last year I shot an entire series there using a single camera and lens. I shared the lesson I learned here.
I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed last week series The Bull Riders. I have a big week lined up for everyone, including the debut of my newest movie, ‘Contrast’, so let’s get to it!
If you have been a regular here for a while, you know last year I did a story on a little town called Crescent Valley. It is a mining town smack dab in the middle of the richest counties in the US. During the week I was there, I got to know a lot of the residents. One of them had a cool collection of cars that he restores when he’s not at the mine. He invited me to come by one evening to photograph his shop. What I found was a little history in American muscle cars.
I hope everyone rang in the New Year the way they wanted to. We are starting off this week & year with the beauty and hope that is Muir Woods. Muir woods is a little Redwood forest north of San Francisco. If you are headed that way, take a look at my ‘Photographer’s Guide to San Francisco‘. It will show you a couple of places worth checking out.
So far in this story about a southern California icon, we’ve explored the piers that shape the individual beach communities and the people that compose them. What we haven’t done is explore the Strand itself. That is about to change! Here are the images I made on a single day as we rode from Hermosa Cyclery to Muscle Beach in Venice. There isn’t a better way to explore all the individual communities that make up this coastline than by bike. Hermosa, followed by Manhattan, then El Segundo and Marina Del Ray, and finally Venice. The ride itself was about 28miles round trip. If you decide to head out to Hermosa and do this ride, you will see everything from dolphins to a roller blading one man Jimi Hendrix cover band. You will watch planes take off over head from the beaches in front of LAX. Best of all, you will meet a bunch of interesting folks. Here are a few things I learned from the ride.
Photography Note: I know some folks are curious about the gear I use, so I thought I would share with you what I took with me (and my reasoning) on the cruiser bike to make all these images. The following is the kit I used for the entire 28 mile ride along the strand to make these images.
My D700 w/ Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8, Nikon D7000 w/ Nikkor 80-200 f2.8 AFD. That gave me 24-300mm 2.8 of excellent optics at a manageable weight (my feet covered the gap in focal length between 70mm and 120mm). I think I would have been better served by leaving the 80-200 in exchange for the 70-300mm VR. I added a 15mm fish for those special situations. I can either slap it on the D700 for a fish perspective, or the D7000 for a faux wide perspective. Both cameras have pop up flashes so I didn’t pack any external lights. I packed all of this in a Think Tank Retrospective 30 along with CF cards, towel, cleaners, batteries, etc. It is a pretty comfortable setup if you are walking around and have one camera in hand. Having it slung over your shoulder for several on a bike was a bit much.
What makes the Strand, ‘The Strand’ are the people and the communities it supports. There is so much activity going on. Hundreds of volleyball nets span the beaches from Hermosa to Manhattan. Local surfers congregate near each of the piers. Stand up paddle boarders make their way up and down miles of coastline. The beach cruiser is the primary mode of transportation, roller skates come in a close second. At night, bars come to life with the sound of local music. There is no need to travel far! Just walk, rent a bike, or roller skate your way from activity to activity. The perfect day is waking up at dawn to shoot the sunrise. Then spend the afternoon surfing, paddle boarding, riding, or walking. After an afternoon nap, photograph the sunset, grab a bite, and then catch some live music! Tomorrow we will go on an epic cruiser bike ride from Hermosa Beach to the canals of Venice.
Weekend Photo Vacation Logistics: All the images you have seen thus far in this series, including today’s, were taken within walking distance of the Beach House Hotel at Hermosa Beach. I really had no idea where to stay, but it was the only place on the beach that was centrally located. It turned out to be the perfect base camp for a photo weekend in a southern California beach community. There was never a need for a rental car.
