Santa Monica
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And now for some color…
The images you are about to see are from 1 roll of 35mm Fuji Velvia 100 slide film that was cross-processed in C-41, which is the regular development chemical used for normal color negative film. The cross-processing of this particular film brings out the green hues in the image and plays with the contrast a bit. Some of this images were color-corrected in Photoshop to bring back some of the blues and reds that get obscured when you do this cross-processing. Nevertheless, the effect of this technique is to age the look of the film to give it a vintage feel.
The California Air Force on full display.
Even though the water is freezing, many people can’t resist the lure of swimming in the ocean. the couple at the center of the image were having fun splashing each other. Those two white dots on either side of the man’s nose would be water, not some tribal piercing.
Football and frisbee throwing on the beach are just two of the many ways people pass the time on a Saturday afternoon.
An aerial gymnast performs? Or maybe it was one of those expensive rides similar to a bungee jump? Either way, I could not help but be mesmerized by the bravery of this individual.
As serendipity would have it, the moon was nearly full and therefore was making an early appearance in the sky. I’ve never had much luck photographing the moon. This roll would make you believe otherwise. This particular image (below) was shot with a 210mm lens.
Fly me to the moon…
One kite dominated the sky as if it were a rainbow stairway to heaven. It was captivating and I spent far longer observing its movements than these images suggest. I have never in my life seen such a kite. It was incredible to watch the mastery of the person who put this in the air. More importantly though, it captivated everyone, not just me, and gave us all something to be in awe of while we went about our leisurely day.
One of my favorite images of all time form my entire portfolio, is this image above.
You can almost climb it couldn't you.
The Santa Monica Pier is the end of Route 66, the famous Mother Road of America that once stretched from here, all the way to Chicago. Now most of Route 66 is gone. That doesn't stop hundreds of thousands of people each year stopping for a photograph at this spot (below).
I can’t help but think of the movie “Big” with Tom Hanks when I see the Zoltar fortune telling machine. Rather than just take a photo of it, I wanted to capture the scene of the machine next to the Taxi ride and the family enjoying these moments with their young child.
I have several more rolls of black and white film from this afternoon and evening of photography. Those will be published at another time as they really are a standalone series not connected with my walk across LA. Still, I could not resist sharing these fun images from a day in 2010 when I went to the beach and took in the salty air and some saltwater taffy, while I wandered with my camera to people watch.
