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Published: 2005-02-22 18:11:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 1590; Favourites: 27; Downloads: 232
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Just a friendly reminder. If you're commenting in the hopes of getting comments in return, remember to please keep it over twenty-five words or more.Every day I wanted to go out and get some photos, it would start raining. All week it was a constant downpour, and lo and behold, Los Angeles has surpassed both Boston and New York on the amount of rainfall this season. That just isn't right. The night before I was driving home from Rancho Santa Margharita at about 2 in the morning. There were massive puddles and flooded lanes on the 5, 22, and 405 freeways. It had been raining so much that I could hardly see the painted lanes on the freeways. It was a perilous drive, one where I frequently found myself planing across water. Note, that when you're planing, your tires spin in place, but are suspended by a surface of water, so it really makes for some massive control issues. There was hardly a vehicle on the freeway, except the occassional big rig or other brave motorist. But all in all, barely a shred of life on the road. Yet despite this, every ten minutes I passed by another motorist on the side of the freeway. I wish I could say that most instances were because they stalled, but unfortunately for me, the majority of them had wrecked.
Though that was the day of greatest downpour, it was also the last punch before a 12 hour break from the chaos. An opening had swept across the South Bay, leaving the air cool and the whole city feeling clean. I had waited for several days to find an opportune moment for a photo shoot, and it had presented itself. Thus, I went up to one of my favorite locales. Palos Verdes is a higher scale community made up of ranches and horse paths. It's a place where you'll find the people who invested in tech stocks in the late nineties, and remembered marketting trends well enough to sell them off at the perfect opportunity. It's the land of trophy wives and retired CEO's. BMW's and Lexus. It is definitely a laid back community, but certainly not a very welcoming one. There is a law in place that states that all pedestrians must have at least twelve dollars in their pockets at all times. Why? That's how much it costs to take a Taxi from anywhere in Palos Verdes out. There is a cove there that is considered more dangerous than Baghdad, as the surfers are so territorial that they'll assault anybody who just so happens to be walking along the beach, or they'll vandalize cars with out of state license plates that park either in the lot or on the stretch of road leading to this surf spot. The surfers had even erected a large sign reading "Beach is for Palos Verdes residents only. Penal code A-325-489B". However, no such penal code exists. This cove is also so dangerous that the Palos Verdes police refuse to do anything about the situation.
Naturally, that was the place to avoid. I stayed closer to the city limits along the northern edge of the peninsula. To pass time, I hiked along the extremely rocky shoreline. I walked a mile down the shore, but it felt a lot longer due to the difficulty of the terrain. I found a very interesting rock formation, and it was there that I waited the half hour for sunset, skipping stones to pass time. I snapped a few photographs, then headed back before I lost all light and had to traverse the rocky beach in the dark. It was while heading back to my car that I saw the interesting phenomenon of thick clouds gathered over the city, and the city's lights illuminating them from underneath.
There was a phrase from my recently submitted short story:
But here he was after a five mile hike through the Oregon hills, a hike that began after a winding dirt road become too overgrown for his old Ford. He was so far from civilization that the blazing furnaces of Calypsoβs Industrial Module were a mere flickering aura dimly illuminating the east horizon.
I thought of that exerpt while taking the last photos of the evening. I saw right before me the very image I was trying to portray in that story.
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Comments: 12
FlashKid105 [2005-10-13 02:16:37 +0000 UTC]
This is obviously a very neat-o photo. I at first thought the bright yellow stuff was a fire or something like that and the clouds were actually smoke coming from the fire. You picked a very nice time to shoot this, obviously as I have to say that the color contrast between the various elements of the photo is very cool. Even though I do not use this kind of border for my stuff, it's still very spiffy in terms of what it adds to the photo. Keep it up
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kkart [2005-05-05 14:47:40 +0000 UTC]
This is just incredible, I really love this shot so much. Utterly a romantic styled image, especially with the added distant lights on the shorline in the distance. I think I shall be featuring this in an upcoming journal or on my shoutboard in the next couple of days. Remarkable shot
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miss-sakamoto [2005-03-31 05:04:44 +0000 UTC]
it looks like a lava flow. the colors are gorgeous.
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jcredberry [2005-03-07 15:15:26 +0000 UTC]
Cool looking shot... The sity looks like burning... The tones are, as always, surreal to say the least... I think you left to much black on the bottom zone of the photo... The palm and tree add an extra to the otherwise "plain" sunrise shot... I can't believe what you're telling actually happens in the States... The land of the free??? Unfriendly??? Are you serious???
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BloodHawk516 [2005-02-24 13:45:02 +0000 UTC]
bautiful shot. I love the contrast of the trees and the lights, and the city looks as though it's on fire. I've only been to LA once, but i found it to be a wonderful place. (if you know where to go) Just an idea, have you ever taken a tour flight over the city? I flew in at night to LAX and on the way in the city starts as a glow on the horizon and slowly spreads out like a sea of fire to all horizons. could make for a good shot if you ever get the chance. I'd do it myself, but i don't know when i'll get a chance to come back there. your work is wonderful though.
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DeepChrome [2005-02-23 06:18:59 +0000 UTC]
WOW, the colors here are fantastic. You used a great superimposition of the trees and the land, against the clouds.
I also really like the contrast between the black, and the vibrant colors.
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summanaro [2005-02-23 03:19:22 +0000 UTC]
I have to say, this is the kind of picture you'd think to see in some kind of ad for a beach vacation . At least thats what I first got from it. You got a great shot, it almost looks like the city is on fire o.O... is it? That'd be bad o.O. It illuminates the sky beatutifully either way. The trees add a nice touch as well. It looks as though they're apart of the border over the background.
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Koukris [2005-02-23 02:24:11 +0000 UTC]
Wow...lovely shot! The color of the sky is just amazing...it looks almost like fire!
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nicksname [2005-02-22 22:26:49 +0000 UTC]
That's a rather unique border. I have yet to see anything even
remotely similair to it. It adds a lot to the photo, keeps the border
from being he focal point.
The lights from the city on the horizon looks like molten gold flowing
into the sea. No suggestions there. But the framing of the picture
seems lopsided. This in some ways can work to your advantage. With the
clouds following the trees it pulls your eyes to that portion, where
you see the golden city lights that pull your eyes back down to the
tree, which pulls you up and it starts over. I bit of a roller
coaster for the eyes. The downside of the lopside, is that it leaves
nothing as the center of the piece. There is no obvious point to it.
The colors are perfect. It nicely ties together blues and reds and
yellows into something quite enjoyable. I've seen the same sort of
thing in a few of your other photos, but not quite to the same extent.
All in all, great job, nice composition and colors, and I really like
those two stars in the opening. Small though they may be, it's nice to
see them there.
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Chilli-Man [2005-02-22 18:27:50 +0000 UTC]
Don't worry, you don't have to comment it back...
i loved the colours and the trees. I think the pic would be better if the clouds covered all the sky, the blue spots are ok, but if they were printed like the parts with the clouds, it would be better...
see ya...
PS:
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