California Day 1

I've decided that my blogging while in California will mainly be photos and descriptions of fun events. If something photo-technical specific happens then I will of course write about it!

California! This was taken from the top of the parking garage at my friend's apartment in Marina Del Rey. He commented that it is unusual for the Hollywood sign to be visible from his apartment, seeing as the smog from LA usually blocks all of the hills from view. That's a disgusting prospect.

Andrew recommended this fantastic burger place for lunch. I decided that while Jake and I are in California we'll be doing fun things that can't be done in Poulsbo! This means not eating at Red Robin.

This is the menu at The Counter. A California-specific chain, and very new to me! This snazzy clipboard and pencil is presented to hungry diners and there are myriad options listed. I, of course, ordered a plain cheeseburger. But! It was fun looking through all the options and talking about the more unusual offerings, such as apricot sauce.

Here's Jake and me. I am determined to do two things while in California: take pictures all day everyday of everything I see because I never take enough photos when I go to new places, and make sure to get photos of myself! (he's so cute)

Andrew took us to this little plaza of shops that included a bike rental business. Tomorrow we're going to rent bikes and ride down to Venice beach and Santa Monica Pier. We needed to double-check overnight prices. We did some wandering around and I liked this little walkway area. So here's a photo of it.

This lighthouse is to the left of the above photo. It's not a real lighthouse, but it's neat looking. On the other side of this lighthouse is apparently where "they" put the banana stand for the TV show Arrested Development. I don't watch that show so it doesn't mean much to me. I thought it was worth mentioning all the same.

Here is a fabulous palm tree. I was in the backseat of my friend's car and while we were slowing down to a stoplight I snapped this one out. I feel it was a lucky shot. I had my camera already set to f/16 250th (I think), which was pretty optimal for getting shadow detail and decently blowing out the sky to show bright and heat! I wasn't looking for sky detail at this moment anyway.

I'm pretty excited for more of this type of photo. Hot skies, saturated greens, locales that clearly aren't Washington.

Here's what happens when everyone is woefully unprepared to have their photo taken. Except for Andrew, he's just crazy and likes to be a freak for photos.

Much better :) We were ready for the photo this time. Background is a bit blown out because I wanted to make taking the photo easier on Andrew. I added my SB-800 after this photo was taken but I don't really like any of the photos enough to post them. We have another six days to try again! The sunset was very beautiful.

See? -MJ