Windsurfing at Huntington Beach
The Exposure section of the July issue of Outside magazine features a double truck photo I took earlier this year at Huntington Beach. On my way home from a meeting with an ad agency in Irvine I decided to swing by the beach to look for photos. It had been raining unusually hard that day all across Southern California and I figured the late afternoon sun that had started peaking through the storm clouds would make for some great images. When I got there the sun only lasted 2 minutes before an approaching set of clouds darkened the sky, ruining the beautiful light that had drawn me there. To my surprise though, as I walked along the beach near the pier, I saw a couple kites dancing around the gloomy skyline to the north. I figured they were only power kites being flown from the beach, but as I approached I saw that there were actually a couple of daring kite surfers taking advantage of the choppy water and high winds that had probably deterred the majority of their brethren. I figured they weren’t going to be out there for long and started jogging up the beach to get a closer shot. My timing was perfect, as they lasted only another minute before packing it in.
I blogged a couple of other photos from this experience just after it happened, but since this one just made it into print I figured I’d share it as well. The Exposure page is an ongoing feature in the magazine that focuses on unique outdoor photography and shares the photographers’ camera settings and a brief interview about the photographers’ experience. This one, besides being a nice stormy weather shot, I think had particular interest to them because of the recent relevance of offshore drilling. I hadn’t put much thought about it when taking the shot, but it’s amazing to see how close to the shore California once allowed wells to be drilled. Apparently, until 2008 there was a ban on new offshore stemming from a 1969 oil spill that leaked 4 million gallons of crude off the Santa Barbara coast. The ban was allowed to lapse after “drill now” pressures in response to skyrocketing gas prices. However, members of California’s congress are now pushing to reinstate it in light of recent events.
Exposure usually only features one photographer, from what I’ve seen, but this month there are four, all related to water. If you turn the page you’ll see a fantastic aerial photo of the Colorado River in Canyonland’s National Park by fellow Aurora Photos contributor and National Geographic regular Peter McBride. Not bad company to be in!
Bicyclists and beach goers, Venice Beach
A young man is detained after a large brawl on Venice Beach
This Memorial Day weekend was marked by various activities, ranging from laying out on a crowded Venice Beach to a crowd-stopping brawl and arrest Sunday evening on Windward Avenue and capped off with a huge feast and ping-pong tournament at the home of the very talented chef of the Fraiche restaurant in Culver City. Taking photos all the while of course.
Most notable and unusual of course was the brawl. I had just stepped out onto the boardwalk looking for some evening photos of Memorial Day visitors when suddenly the police started flashing their lights and bleeping their sirens from the direction of the beach patrol station, which is right at the end of Windward Avenue, marked by its classic arcade architecture and suspended trademark Venice sign. The majority of them went straight up Windward, while some of them drove across the grassy park area, evidently to head off anyone trying to get away by heading north. I decided to follow them up Windward to check it out and was there as a handful of young men started sprinting. The police were already blocking off the street by that point and quickly ran and tackled them, at least three that I saw, onto the sidewalk, before lining them up against the high red wall that borders the adjoining compounds owned by notable neighbor Anjelica Huston. I was able to get a few shots off from close proximity before the police gained control of the situation and kicked everyone off the entire first block of the street. They held the boys there up against the wall for a solid hour as I and numerous others watched from adjacent corners on the other side of Pacific Avenue. I hung out watching for awhile and then got bored and headed home. On the way, I came across another two that had been detained next door to my place on Market St. I took a couple photos and watched as the police stood them up one at a time and took pictures of their tattoos with their cell phones.
I later read that the brawl was thought to include up to 70 young men, ages 14-17. Twenty were detained and only one arrested. They still don’t know what the cause of the fight was, but are investigating it as possibly gang-related. More here.
The rest of the weekend was pretty typical and enjoyable. A fun night Saturday was had at our neighbors, who hosted a party around the much-hyped UFC fight between Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans. I know nothing about this sport, and find it pretty brutal, but had a fun time cleaning up in a pool with a lucky wager on Evans it the third. He won by decision, but I was closest! Sunday was spent walking around photo hunting along Venice Beach, mixed in with a little bit of laying out in the sand with Erinn. Then Monday at the home of the chef and wife’s house near Beverly Hills. We were treated to a feast of curried chicken and fish, lemon-stuffed, roasted chicken, mixed greens and strawberry shortcake, among much, much more. Not traditional BBQ material, just some great food the chef grew up eating and wanted to share. No complaints here. Now it’s Tuesday and back to work I go.
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After a meeting with an agency in Irvine today I decided to drive up the coast from Newport Beach to Long Beach just to explore. When I got to Huntington Beach there was a gorgeous light coming from behind an approaching storm cloud that forced me out of my car just south of the Huntington Beach Pier. Just north of the pier I spotted some kites and figured they were just power-kiters out on the beach, but then I saw one pop up in the air and realized there were actually people out kite surfing, despite, or more likely because of the large choppy waves being produced by the stormy weather. I hustled over their way and despite their moving quickly away from me I was able to catch up enough to get off a couple shots just before they packed it in as the black storm cloud got too close for comfort. I’d hoped to get one of them popping out of the water or a close-up of them battling the waves, but was still happy with what I got. I then spent a few minutes with John Moynihan, 24, as he packed up his gear and walked his kite back to the car. A self-described ‘gypsy sailor,’ Moynihan lives on a sailboat that currently resides in nearby Newport Beach. After this I parted ways with him. And just in time, as the rain started to come down and I was a quarter mile away from my car. I packed up my gear and headed back. We’ve had an unusual week here with daily storms and even a few tornados touching down. There was even one in Seal Beach today, which I drove through after shooting this, but I didn’t see anything. I’ve got a couple more stormy weather photos I’ll put up tomorrow or the next day.
U.S. Heavyweight Sumo Wrestling Champion Dan Kalbfleisch
Sumo Dan is U.S. Heavyweight Sumo Wrestler Dan Kalbfleisch of Burbank, Calif. I met him while shooting a sumo wrestling tournament at Venice Beach a few months back and tucked his name away as someone whose portrait I’d like to shoot someday. I finally got around to asking him a couple weeks ago and he invited me to come out to the “Dohyo of Dreams” the following weekend for a tournament they were having in a guy’s back yard in Garden Grove. He also invited me to stick around and shoot the tournament. Excellent timing! I gladly took him up on the offer and drove down to the D.O.D. with Erinn the following Saturday so we could work together on a story about the tournament. I’m behind on editing the tournament shots, but will post them and a better description of the event when I finish my edit. For now though, here’s Dan in front of a garage decorated with a big white sign that reads “Dohyo of Dreams” and a bunch of smaller signs with the names of previous year’s tournament winners posted along the top.
I’m not done posting from the Maine trip and a few other things that happened after, but I thought I’d jump ahead and post some images from a big event here this past weekend. Saturday marked the opening of the new Venice Skate Park, a $3.4 million project 12 years in the making. This was a monumental event for skaters here in Venice, aka Dogtown, the place where modern skateboarding was born. If you’re not familiar with the story, I highly recommend checking out the Stacy Peralta documentary “Dogtown and Z-Boys,” which traces the history of the Zephyr surf team’s transition into the Zephyr skateboard team as they reinvented skating by incorporating surfing maneuvers and the surfing lifestyle to the once wholesome but staid sport of the 1950s. From that group came legends like Peralta and Tony Alva, the sports first to achieve rock star status, which lead to the next generation of superstars like Tony Hawk. Many of the original members and team founder Jeff Ho were in attendance, though I don’t recall seeing the two guys I mentioned. However, the importance of the realization of this park was evident by the huge crowd that turned out for its unveiling. I had a great time standing alongside everyone as skaters took turns dropping into the giant bowl while others watched along its rim. As this is only a block from my door, I’m looking forward to stopping by on a regular basis to check out the scene. Hopefully it won’t always be as crowded as it was Saturday though!
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I had a fun time checking out the U.S. Sumo National Championships at Venice Beach yesterday. The competition was held on the basketball courts near Muscle Beach and drew a decent crowd. There were competitors from all weight classes, with the largest wrestler, Kelly Gneiting, top photo on the right, weighing it at about 440 lbs., if I recall correctly. The current champion, Dan Kalbfleisch, is pictured top center and above dropping Gneiting to the mat. He keeps a blog about sumo called Sumo Dan, if you’re interested in learning more. More photos after the jump!
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Venice Graffiti Wall
Here’s another from the hood. Trying to work up the nerve to flip off of it, Curt “CP” Parks runs along the Venice Graffiti Wall in Venice Beach, Calif., while shooting some photos with other members of his hip-hop group, RME. Also known as the Venice Public Art Walls, they are managed by Venice art group In Creative Unity and individuals are allowed to paint on them on weekends after applying for a permit.
I’ve been doing a bit of shooting through an old WWI-era Hasselblad that I have. The camera was a gift from my Uncle Mike several years ago. It’s a beautiful old black box with shiny silver hardware, but the shutter has never worked and I’d be surprised if it’s fixable. Still, I’ve enjoyed having it out on a bookshelf over the years. On a whim during a recent photo shoot with the band Lovers Electric I decided to shoot through the viewfinder. This was something I’d experimented with before using a couple of other old cameras I have, but never with this one for some reason. I liked the results with the band shoot (scroll down and you can find that post from month or two ago), so I’ve since been playing around with it a bit more. While making Erinn sit for some test portraits for an upcoming band shoot I discovered that I could take out the plate of glass with the cross-hairs and get a much clearer picture. So I decided to take it out on the boardwalk to see what I could come up with.
I normally don’t go for gimmicks, but I’m enjoying it for now. And it’s nice to put the older camera back to work. It’s got such a great lens on it, it’s a shame to have it sitting idle on a bookshelf. I especially like using it out along the boardwalk. Venice has been photographed so much that it will be nice to come up with something a little different. I also threw in a shot of some lovely sunflowers we have sitting in our living room. Enjoy!
Southern California’s Taj Gibson displayed a range of emotion during an NCAA men’s basketball game against crosstown rival UCLA in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009. Despite holding the score close through the second half, USC was unable to close the deal, giving UCLA a 64-60 win. (AP Photo/David Zentz)
UCLA forward Nikola Dragovic (41) dunks over Southern California forward Nikola Vucevic (5) during an NCAA basketall game in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009. UCLA won 64-60. (AP Photo/David Zentz)
Members of the Penguin Swim Club line up before plunging into the frigid Pacific Ocean while taking part in the 49th annual New Year’s Day swim at Venice Beach in Venice, Calif., on Thursday, January 1, 2009. Water temperatures at noon were around 54 degrees. (AP Photo/David Zentz)
Members of the Penguin Swim Club race into the frigid Pacific Ocean while taking part in the 49th annual New Year’s Day swim at Venice Beach in Venice, Calif., on Thursday, January 1, 2009. Swimmers competed in a 500-yard race at noon in water that was around 54 degrees. (AP Photo/David Zentz)
Members of the Penguin Swim Club plunge into the frigid Pacific Ocean while taking part in the 49th annual New Year’s Day swim at Venice Beach in Venice, Calif., on Thursday, January 1, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zentz)
On New Year’s Day we went down to the beach to check out the annual New Year’s Day swim hosted by the Penguin Swim Club. The event was somewhat laughable after witnessing the same thing in much colder climates than Southern Calfironia has to offer, but it was fun nonetheless.
