Just Above Sunset Photography

Sunday, 25 June 2006

More Blue
Topic: Color Studies

More Blue

The view from the sand at Huntington Beach, Wednesday, June 21, with a sailboat and a gull, and the cool blue waters of the Pacific

If you visit Just Above Sunset, the weekly magazine-format parent to this website, you'll find scads of new photographs there, including amazing shots from our correspondents in Paris and Tel-Aviv. And there are all new high-resolution botanicals, and new architectural shots. That issue was posted mid-afternoon, Pacific Time.

But on this date - Sunday, June 25, 2006 - Hollywood was overcast and muggy. The day was dark and it was in the mid-nineties. It felt more like Tupelo Mississippi, not Los Angeles. Steamy and uncomfortable. So the photo this date is one more blue study, one that didn't make it into the weekly - the view from the sand at Huntington Beach, Wednesday, June 21, with a sailboat and a gull, and the cool blue waters of the Pacific.

Posted by Alan at 9:12 PM PDT | Post Comment | Permalink
home

Saturday, 24 June 2006

The Unexpected
Topic: Color Studies

The Unexpected

The banana is an herb, in the genus Musa, which, because of its size and structure, is often mistaken for a tree. It's often mistaken for many things. It's just an odd plant, and in most large gardens in Southern California. Here are some odd views, a specimen in Will Rogers Park on Sunset Boulevard, right in the middle of Beverly Hills.

Banana, Will Rogers Park on Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills

Posted by Alan at 4:00 PM PDT | Post Comment | Permalink
home

Friday, 23 June 2006

Studies in Blue...
Topic: Color Studies

Studies in Blue...

From Wednesday, 21 June, 2006 - as seen from the hill at The Korean Bell of Friendship and Bell Pavilion, Angels Gate Park, San Pedro, a gull in flight, and the Pacific below.

Gull in flight, above the Korean Bell of Friendship and Bell Pavilion, Angels Gate Park, San Pedro

View of the Pacific from the Korean Bell of Friendship and Bell Pavilion, Angels Gate Park, San Pedro

Posted by Alan at 7:15 PM PDT | Post Comment | Permalink
home

Thursday, 22 June 2006

Folk Art (Transportation Division)
Topic: Oddities

Folk Art (Transportation Division)

A steep hill street, Hancock, in West Hollywood, just south of the Sunset Strip, is full of amazing little craftsman cottages. Photos of those later, but the whole thing is explained here - "The American Craftsman Style or the American Arts and Crafts Movement is an American domestic architectural and interior design style popular from the 1900's to the early 1930's. The style incorporated locally handcrafted wood-, glass-, and metal-work which is both simple and elegant. A reaction to Victorian opulence and the increasingly common mass produced housing elements, the style incorporated aspects of clean lines, sturdy structure, natural materials. The name comes from a popular magazine published in the early 1900's by furniture maker Gustav Stickley called The Craftsman, which featured original house and furniture designs by Harvey Ellis, the Greene brothers, and others. The designs were influenced by the British Arts and Crafts Movement, as well as American Shaker and Mission styles. During this time also emerged the related Prairie School of architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright."

Yeah, well, indigenous folk art is where you find it. This truck was sitting on Hancock in front of one of the cottages being restored, at noon, Wednesday June 21, at noon.

Odd truck door, Hancock Avenue, West Hollywood

Posted by Alan at 7:02 PM PDT | Post Comment | Permalink
home

Wednesday, 21 June 2006

Surf City, USA
Topic: South of Hollywood

Surf City, USA

Forty miles south of Los Angeles there's Huntington Beach, down in Orange County - south of Seal Beach and before you get too far south and end up in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach. This is known around the world as "Surf City" and the city's website (here) shows the ® - it's official, or legally the secondary name, or whatever. If any other place decides to call itself "Surf City" they just might sue. Santa Cruz up north had decided to call itself "Surf City, USA" - and Huntington Beach cried foul. A ruling by the Patent and Trademark Office released on May 12, 2006, awarded the trademark to Huntington Beach. So be careful.

Huntington Beach does have eight miles of accessible beachfront - "the largest stretch of uninterrupted beachfront on the West Coast" - and the largest public pier too. And this is the site of the world surfing championships, held each summer, even if there was that riot in 1985 with police cars overturned and set on fire. That doesn't happen any more. Anyway, Huntington Beach was mentioned in the Beach Boys song "Surfin' Safari." It must be Surf City.

And a technical note - the surf here is good because of the edge-diffraction of ocean swells by the island of Catalina - think of it as an amplifier for what gets generated out in the Pacific. And then too, because of the curve of the coastline at Huntington Beach, the beach actually faces southwest, not west like all the others. This is good - in summer any southwest-facing beach will get especially strong surf from major storms off the Mexican coast, as was the case with these shots from Wednesday, June 21, 2006, the final day of a three-day high surf advisory. It's been nasty down Acapulco way, and the surf is up in Surf City, USA.

Surfers, Huntington Beach, California - Surf City, USA

Surfer, Huntington Beach, California - Surf City, USA

Posted by Alan at 9:31 PM PDT | Post Comment | Permalink
home

Updated: Wednesday, 21 June 2006 9:41 PM PDT

Newer | Latest | Older

«	June 2006					»

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30