Our Friday Night

I was up late last night trying to catch up on all the Olympics coverage that I had missed this week.  So I slept in this morning meaning that I woke up a little after 7AM instead of 5AM like I did yesterday morning.  So without my morning photos, I decided to keep things low key by shooting our evening activities.

My wife’s birthday is this Wednesday so we decided to celebrate early by going to our favorite sushi joint with Nate Dogg.  Nate enjoyed his smelt egg sushi and shrimp tempura.  He kept us entertained by making funny faces throughout dinner.  After dinner, we headed over to the Westfield Culver City for some ice cream and some running around.

The mall used to be called the Fox Hills Mall, but it was remodeled recently and they changed the name to go with the new digs.  I’ve been to the mall a couple times since they reopened and I have to say that the entire mall looks really nice.

Now we’re at home, Nate is down for the night, and my wife just cracked open a bottle of wine.  Time to sign off.

The sushi chefs at Sakura

Seared rib-eye sushi with avocado and sea urchin - amazing!

Nate, mugging for the camera

Nate at Westfield Culver City

Nate Dogg and Marie-Z

@Nate

The Westfiled Culver City, post remodel

Millard Canyon Falls

Just north of Altadena is a great little hike called the Millard Canyon Trail.  I met up with my friend who suggested this hike for what is normally about 1.5 miles hike roundtrip, but today it was more like 3 or 4 miles with some significant elevation gain in the early going.  The recent rains had caused sufficient damage to the roads and the parking lot that the entry road was closed to motor traffic.

The good news is that the rains also made the falls much very picturesque.  I’ve seen a few pictures of the falls online and it is little more than a trickle in most of the images.  But today, it was a full-fledged 50′ waterfall!

I eagerly set up my tripod and pulled out my camera only to find that I had taken the tripod mount off of my camera!  Bummers.  So I had to make do and simply rest the camera on the tripod and hope that I could hold it steady as I snapped my long exposures.  I think they came out fine despite not having a rigid mount.

I hope you enjoy today’s images.

Millard Canyon Falls

A mid-trail cascade

Dawn at El Porto

There wasn’t much in the way of waves this morning at El Porto.  At least not enough to try any water shots so I settled for snapping a few shots from the beach and then caught a few waves on my longboard.

Waves are supposed to pick up this evening and stay big over the weekend, but we’re also supposed to get some rain so who knows what the conditions will be like.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to try my hand at the water shots again tomorrow.

El Porto, looking south

El Porto, looking north

Urban Oasis

It’s nice to know that even in a big metropolis like Los Angeles, you can still find a couple places where you can get away from the crowd.

Urban Oasis

The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center

Today, I had to get into the office at 7:30 AM so I didn’t have time to shoot anything until my drive home from work.  The Howard Hughes Promenade is on my way home from work, so it served as a good subject for a day when I just didn’t have a whole lot of time to shoot.  Today was all about not breaking the chain.

Howard Hughes Promenade

The Manhattan Sea Wall

There isn’t really a Manhattan Sea Wall.  Usually.  But with the recent surf eroding all the sand, there is a stretch of the bike path where there is basically no sand on a higher tide and the waves break right onto the rocks.  So when you get some bigger surf with a high tide, you can see some pretty big waves explode onto the rocks and send a plume of whitewater onto the bike path.  Right now, there is a sea wall just north of 45th St.

I thought, “Hey, isn’t that cool? Maybe I should shoot it.“  Well, I only had my wide angle lens so without getting really close, the big splashes of whitewater didn’t really look as good in the pictures so I had to get closer.  So, I got a little closer – maybe a little too close.  Luckily, I didn’t get the camera wet, but I did pay the price by shielding it with my body.  My jacket was waterproof.  My sweatpants were not.

I got a major adrenaline rush waiting for the big waves to break on the rocks.  The thunderous crash of the wave against the rock sounds so close that it just sounds like you’re about to get swallowed up by this thing.  I think I’m going to come back tomorrow with a slightly longer lens.

Here are the images.  First a sequence from a safer vantage point.  Then a few from a not-so-safe one.  And finally, a self portrait after getting splashed.

Splash Sequence

Big Splash, Up Close and Personal

Foamy Bike Path

Pieces of rock broken off by waves

What happens when you get too close