Malibu Fires + Sun = Fantastic Beach Photos

As everyone knows, fires are ablazing all over So Cal. As horrible as the fires are, they do one good thing - they make the atmosphere have this unbelievable warm orange glow all around Los Angeles, and taking photos at the beach has been a treat thanks especially to the fires raging in Malibu. The fires also bring out more red and purple tones in the clouds. I took all these photos on Sunday in Venice and Tues in Santa Monica.

Venice Beach, Sunday Oct 21, 2007 (Nikon D80 with Nikon 17-55 f/2.8)




Santa Monica Beach and Pier, Tuesday Oct 23, 2007 (Nikon D40 with Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED II)





For the first time in my life I actually walked under the Santa Monica Pier and I was struck by how beautiful it was under there! It was a strange mix of total calm mixed with the occassional rush of surf. The grey/brown tones of the wood were occasionally broken up by a glint of golden sunlight pouring thru. And there are these two orange boats under there adding an interesting spash of color.




As it got darker, I headed over to eat at Coast (formerly Pedals) at Shutters on the Beach for a quick dinner before heading over to UCLA for my Advanced Lighting Class with George Simian. I handed off my camera to the waitress and set it to use a little fill flash so you could actually see both me and the sunset. As it got later and later, the pier lights and some beach lights came on giving the beach an interesting glow of green and neon.