An East Coast Harbor

The thing about drones is that they have very sophisticated batteries in them (and the batteries are expensive.)  It is important to charge the batteries every few weeks, even if you haven't used the drone.  Since we were away, i thought it was time for a charge.  Then, because there were beautiful cumulus clouds in the sky, I decided to see how the harbor would look with the clouds.  So I just set my drone in the side yard, and then flew it up to a little below 400 feet and took this photograph.  Beautiful with the clouds, isn't it?

Seeing the Sights

This is a scene that I took on the way to California.  It is in the vicinity of Bryce Canyon, but it is not Bryce Canyon itself, I don't believe.  It has all the characteristics and colors of Bryce.  I should go on Google Earth and see if I can find Bryce itself.  The interesting thing is that there appears to be some small fires burning on the tops of one of the ridges in the lower part of the photo.  I watched the fire for about 5 minutes or so from our high altitude, but never saw any flames.

Leaving LA

Goodbye to LA.  We are headed home.  At the lower right is the west end of Los Angeles International Airport, and in the middle, left of center is the Marina District - Venice is just beyond that blue strip of water going inland.  The trip out to Los Angeles is usually 5 and a half hours, but the trip home is 5 hours which is nice.  We arrived safely - wait!  You already know that!

Pacific Sunset

Do you know why I love sunsets, instead of sunrises?  Clue:  It is not a philosophical reason.  It's because I am never up early enough for a sunrise!  But I am always up for sunsets.  The sunsets in Venice, looking out over the Pacific Ocean are a bit more interesting photographically, because the Santa Monica Mountains in the distance break up the horizontal line of the horizon.  This is the sunset on the night before our departure from Los Angeles.  It is always nice to be away, and it is also nice to be back home.

Getty Center Architecture

Every time I go to the Getty Center I see some other architectural detail that I hadn't noticed before, or that I had not looked at carefully enough.  I love the complexity of this photograph.  It has so many surfaces and shapes and parts and contrasting materials.  I can't begin to understand how an architect imagines something like this in their mind, and then makes it happen.  It boggles my mind.

Just for fun, in the first photograph, I was standing at the head of these stairs, seen from the opposite direction.  So I walked down the stairs and turned around and looked up and saw this.  I was taken by the brilliant blue California sky contrasted with the warm toned limestone facing of the building.

"ICONS OF STYLE: A Century of Fashion Photography"

There is an amazing exhibition at The Getty about fashion photography over the last one hundred years.  It is called "ICONS OF STYLE:  A Century of Fashion Photography."  It is a huge exhibition which has more than 150 photographic prints, but there were a handful of mannequins with some of the fashions of the times, and the photographs were displayed in ten-year segments.  This classic dress is by Christian Dior from 1948.

Ok, so this is funny, and only readers of my blog will understand the humor.  Why was I particularly attracted to this dress?  You know the answer - this dress matches my new Vans shoes!  I wonder if they have any menswear in this pattern?  This dress is by Alexander McQueen, a British designer.

  

This has to be the strangest fashion photograph I have ever seen.  There is a note at the entrance to this gallery warning of a photograph that is a "simulated suicide."  The title of this photograph is "Half Prada" and it was produced in 2003.  It was based on crime scene photographs found in police archives.  I am probably unsophisticated in that I have trouble making sense of this particular photograph.

A Day at the Getty Center

I always try to get to the Getty Center when we are in Los Angeles, because it is such an amazing museum - it never fails to energize me.  There are photographs everywhere, both in the galleries and out on the plazas, with the architecture and all the visitors.  I thought of taking one of the tours that the Getty offers, but there wasn't enough time because I ended up spending nearly two hours in one exhibit.  More on that later.  While walking outside to another gallery I noticed this group of people, some carrying umbrellas, and realized that it was the architecture tour.  The Getty is constructed of a light colored stone, and even though it was September it was blinding to walk around outside.  So the umbrellas are available to shield everyone from the sun.