The Venice Pier

Today, I drove north of the marina and stopped at the Venice Pier.  I found some easy parking right at the end of Washington Blvd and just had to walk a few steps to get to the sand.  As with the other beaches, much of the sand had been washed out by the recent swells.  This pier sits a bit shorter than the other piers that I’ve shot recently.  It seems like some bigger surf on a high tide could easily reach the pier platform.

When I walked to the end of the pier, I saw a pelican who seemed to be suffering from some hypothermia.  The amount of oil in the water from the rains probably got on the bird during feeding which decreases the water repelling characteristics of its feathers.  I hope this little guy gets back into the swing of things soon.

Venice Pier, Perspective 1

Venice Pier, Perspective 2

Venice Pier, Perspective 3

A California Brown Pelican

The Hermosa Beach Pier

The recent big surf washed away so much sand from the local beaches that all sorts of cement structures that are usually buried under sand are now exposed.  You can see one such structure in the first shot of the Hermosa Pier below.

Hermosa Pier, Perspective 1

Hermosa Pier, Perspective 2

Hermosa Pier, Perspective 3

The Serpent Jetty

It’s funny how you can live so close to something and not ever notice it.  That is certainly the case for me and this jetty in Playa Del Rey.  I have even hung out on the beach about 200 yards from this jetty and just never actually looked at it.  I gotta say that this is one of the coolest looking jetties I’ve seen.  I don’t know the name of this jetty, but I’m going to call it the Serpent Jetty until somebody corrects me.  I’m sure that the serpentine curve of the jetty serves some interesting purpose, but today it just served as a nice subject for my 365.

Serpent Jetty, Perspective 1

Serpent Jetty, Perspective 2

Serpent Jetty, Perspective 3

Manhattan Beach Pier

Grabbed a few shots of the MB Pier this morning before catching a few waves.

Manhattan Beach Pier, Perspective 1

Manhattan Beach Pier, Perspective 2

Manhattan Beach Pier, Perspective 3

D&W South Jetty

I’m not sure if this jetty has a name, but it’s the southern most jetty at Dockweiler Beach.  It was nice not having to worry about the rain this morning, but the lack of cloud cover definitely shortened the amount of time that I had to do the long exposure shots.  There were a few clouds in the sky as you can see in these images, but not enough to cut the light in any significant way.  I was barely able to get my three perspectives on the jetty before the skies were way brighter than the foreground causing clipping on the histogram.

Today, I shot with a Canon 5D with a 28-80mm L lens.

D&W South Jetty, Perspective 1

D&W South Jetty, Perspective 2

D&W South Jetty, Perspective 3

Dodge the Rain, Get the Shot

El Niño really started to show itself this week in the form of 5 days of rain.  For the last three days, it was raining as I left the house and I managed to find a window of time when the rain stopped to snap a few photographs and get on the road.  I had mentioned that I got lucky with the break in the weather, but it wasn’t all luck.

Here is my routine. I would get up at 5:30 and then I’d check the Unisys Satellite Weather Images.  I like to look at it in a 12 hour loop so that I can get a picture of where things might be in the next hour or two.  There are also a couple of sites that provide animated Doppler Radar maps.  I’d focus specifically on the part of the coast where I wanted to shoot and if it seemed like there was a potential opening then I knew it would be worth the risk.  If it looks like a massive rain cloud with no potential break or if I would have to drive too far to avoid the rain, well, that’s when I go back to bed and grab another hour or two of shut-eye.

So, yes, I was lucky that the clouds provided an opportunity to shoot, but I sure as heck wouldn’t have been out there if it didn’t look like there was going to be a window.  Obviously, the rain doesn’t preclude one from shooting, but if you’re out in the open with nothing to keep you dry, there is typically a little more preparation and weather protection that is involved.

If you have other tips for shooting during a rainstorm, I’d love to hear about them.

Unysis Satellite Image at 5:30AM Pacific Time