Monday, May 5, 2008

BIG WHEELS KEEP ON TURNING

Sunday I went to the Santa Monica Pier with the intention of meeting up with a group of Los Angeles Flickr shooters. They had arranged a Flickr meet to go shoot the Pacific Wheel (the ferris wheel) on the last weekend it was going to be in operation before being shipped off to another town. The pier is getting a new ferris wheel soon. But on my way to the meet, I got distracted (in a good way) by meeting up with Serena, Sonya and Mike, and never actually met up with any of the Flickr folk. When I met Sonya and Mike, they were taking their last bites of a Hot Dog On A Stick corndog. I've avoided Hot Dog On A Stick like the plague ever since I burned the hell out of my mouth and throat on my first HDOAS experience back in 1980. Back then, there was a HDOAS at the Sherman Oaks Galleria just a few blocks from my house. For my first meal there, I bought a cheese on a stick and a lemonade. When I bit into the cheese on a stick, the cheese inside was so scalding hot that I seriously burned my mouth and throat and started choking. I grabbed for my lemonade to put out the fire and the lemonade made the burn sting so much more I started coughing up lemonade in every direction including up through my nose. So that first impression of HDOAS lasted a lifetime, but now 28 years later, Sonya and Mike's dogs looked so good, I decided to be brave and try again. Not only can I happily report that this meal went off without a hitch - no burns! - and the corndog was really good and actually had a turkey dog (my favorite kind of hot dog) inside. I stayed at the pier until around 8:45pm when I couldn't take the cold anymore, then headed over to LACMA to see a Bette Davis movie "Of Human Bondage," part of Fasten Your Seat Belts: The Essential Bette Davis series.

Here are some shots and a video from the day:

A very interesting bike on the boardwalk.

Dune Buggy and Moon Doggie









My Hot Dog On A Stick and Lemonade

Mike, Sonya and Serena.

Mike, Sonya, Me, Serena. I forgot to put the flash on, but I doctored this shot up a little in iPhoto and was able to take it a bit out of the darkness.


my reflection in S's glasses

S&L




This bicycle spoke I saw on my way to the beach reminds me of the ferris wheel spinning.





My best Pacific Wheel shot - Nikon D80, 50mm f1.8 lens, shot at f13, 10 seconds, used my Gorillapod SLR tripod that is "prehensile" - and wrapped it around the pier railing to steady it.










The Pacific Wheel in motion.


To see more of my photos from Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Pier, go to my Flickr page.

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