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I meant to do this last week, but I wanted to wait until I finished processing my photos, which I didn't finish until yesterday.

So, Saturday July 24 was the 3rd annual Worldwide Photowalk (WWPW). I decided that this year I would sign up and lead a photowalk through downtown Los Angeles. I planned a route that would take folks from Pershing Square to  the Central Library and the Bunker HIlls steps, then on to Angels Flight and the Grand Central Market for a rest stop, then finally to the Music Center. The walk was listed as 5-1/2 hours, as past experience has told me that photowalks tend to go long. I put up my photowalk on the WWPW site and waited to see who would sign up. To my utter shock, all 50 spots were filled pretty quickly, even though mine was one of three photowalks that was listed for downtown LA.

So, having planned the walk, and having enlisted Brett to help out, the two of us set out late Saturday morning for downtown. We stopped at the wildly popular Nickel Diner for lunch before hand, where Brett ordered a Maple Bacon Donut, which was actually rather good. The food in general was good, good enough that I do want to go back and try some of their other dishes and desserts.

After lunch, we headed over to Pershing Square, and imagine my surprise when I was greeted with a huge crowd of walkers. I introduced myself and Brett, went over where the walk was going, did the standard Fight Club-style intro of the "rules" (don't talk about photowalk. Naw, kidding, you can talk about photowalk. Take the lens cap off and leave it off, since you never know when a shot you like will appear, and etc.), gave a few suggestions and warnings (the security guards at the library get snippy when you take photos of people at the library, photographers at the US Bank Tower have been hassled in the past by security), and off we went.

After a short photo stop at Pershing Square, we walked over to the library. The attraction of the Central Library is the architecture and the art. It is a truly beautiful building. Before going about, I told the walkers that we would meet up again at the top of the Bunker Hill steps at 3:30.

Some of my photos from the library:




After a long linger at the library, I met up with the group at the top of the steps, and saw that my group had gotten a bit bigger, a few late comers showed up. From there, we proceeded to Angels Flight, walking over to 4th, then down to Angels Knoll Park (seen in the movie 500 Days of Summer), which is right next to Angels Flight.

Angels Flight is right across the street from the Grand Central Market. That stop was also also meant to be a rest break for folks who wanted to sit down, maybe get a bite to eat.

Angels Flight and Grand Central Market photos:




During the stop at the market, a few walkers decided to go over to the Bradbury Building, which is on the other side of the market. We then went over to the 2nd Street Tunnel. Also took some shots of the Million Dollar Theater.

Bradbury Building, Million Dollar Theater and 2nd Street Tunnel:



After the stop at the market, a few of the walkers decided to call it a day and head home. We said goodbye to them and thanked them for coming. The rest of the group went on to the Music Center, home of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theater, and Mark Taper Forum. It was late in the walk, but most of the walkers were still with us. The Disney Concert Hall was a popular stop for photos. I think the building is rather unattractive, but I also think it's one of the most interesting things to shoot downtown.

Walt Disney Concert Hall:



At that point, it was after 6:00pm, and a lot of walkers called it a day. Those of us left went across the street to the Dorothy Chandler. By that time, Brett was pretty close to wiped out. One of the other walkers told us that he had actually been out shooting since before midnight and that he had planned to spend 24 hours shooting. We finally ended the walk across the street from the Chandler at the DWP building, which has some nice fountains, though on this day, they had caution tape across the entrance so you couldn't get to the other side.

Chandler fountain and Downtown from the DWP building:



At 7:00pm, the official end time for the walk, Brett and I said goodbye and thanks to the remaining walkers, and headed home, via the red line.

So that was photowalk day.

The photowalk also has a contest connected to it. Walkers can pick one of their shots, upload it to the photowalk page for their walk, the walk leaders then pick the winning photo for their walk. There are prizes for winners of their local walk, peoples choice and a grand prize, chosen by Scott Kelby, they guy who started the Worldwide Photowalk.

It was at this point that problems started to spring up. One of my walkers, who had registered for the walk and was on the attendee list, suddenly found his name no longer on the list, which meant he was unable to upload his photo. He sent me an e-mail. I went over to the photowalk help forum and found out this was actually a common problem. I posted a topic asking for help, and other walk leaders posted in that topic asking for help, too.

I waited a couple of days and didn't get a reply, so I posted again. Still no reply. After 4 days, I got pissed and began posting my frustrations on Twitter. That got responses from other people who participated in WWPW. I then got a Facebook update that the submission deadline was extended to address another problem people were having with the submission process. I responded to that update about the problem my walker was having and asked for it to be addressed. I got an immediate response to that, and soon after a solution was posted and e-mailed. I fowarded that solution to other leaders and to the walker in my group. He was finally able to upload his image.

Now, the only thing left for me to do is choose a winning photo from my walk, and there are a lot of very good images to choose from, this will be a tough decision.

The problems soured me a bit on leading a photowalk next year, though I am thinking about a couple of walks I would like to do, including having an evening/nighttime walk of downtown, and collaborating with lrc  for a walk in his neck of the woods. I don't know, it will depend on how they address the problems from this year and what steps are taken to correct them in time for next year.

Anyway, that was all that, and I hope you like the photos. If you also want to see photos from other people in the group, they can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/wwpw_la/pool/with/4852534420/

I took a second trip to the Salton Sea a couple of weeks ago with lrc and the Los Angeles Flickr group, and it was interesting to see how the sea had changed, especially at Bombay Beach. The water level had fallen about a foot since the last trip in May, and things that were under water before were now exposed.

Bombay Beach in May:



Bombay Beach in November:



May:



November:



Now that I see how much and how quickly things can change there, this is definitely a place I want to visit again.

Just after sunset at Bombay Beach, Salton Sea, California.

Brett suggested the title. If you don't get it, click here.

I did a lot this past weekend.

Friday was Brett's birthday, and he wanted to go to Mauschwitz, uhm, I mean Disneyland. So, we set off late in the morning and around noon, we were behind the Orange Curtain looking for parking in the happiest place on Earth. We spent more time walking around, looking at things, and taking photos than we did on the rides. It was actually quite a bit of fun, even though about half of Tomorrowland seemed to be closed for renovation/repairs.

After Disneyland, we went to Downtown Disney for Brett's birthday dinner, then headed home. I got home around midnight.

Photos from Disneyland are here.

Saturday, I was up early and met up with a member of the Los Angeles Flickr Group for a group trip out to the Salton Sea, in beautiful Riverside/Imperial County. It's a 3 hour drive out there and about 20 people ended up participating, a lot of people or an out of town meet, especially one so far out. Since so many people were participating, we met up at the Starbucks in Mecca, then caravaned out to the Salton Sea.

First stop was the old North Shore Beach and Yacht Club, once a popular tourist spot, but closed and abandoned since the early 80s. The old buildings are falling apart and heavily vandalized, and local kids hang out there to party. There were old liquor bottles and beer cans inside the building, and tons of graffiti inside and out. Lots of interesting photo opportunities.

Photos of the North Shore Beach and Yacht Club are here.

Next stop was Salvation Mountain. Salvation Mountain is an artificial mountain built by a fella named Leonard Knight, and it is exactly what the name implies, a mountain dedicated to God. It's built from hay, adobe, acrylic paint, bolts, branches, and whatever else he can use for the structure, much of it donated. When Leonard saw us, he gladly gave us a tour of the place, showed us what he was working on, told us how he puts things together, and was generally a very nice guy, not at all preachy, not that he has to be, he did build a mountain to God, after all.

After we left the mountain, we were ahead of our schedule, so we stopped at a cafe in Niland for some late afternoon eats. The group walked into this little diner that was empty except for the two people who worked there. The poor woman behind the counter looked nervous when she saw all of us. We took up almost all the tables. She handed us menus and let us know right away that since it was just her, things might be slow coming out of the kitchen. We didn't mind, we had time. After a while, more group members showed up, including a couple of guys who hired models to photograph by the sea. The woman called someone to come in to help, so there were three people to wait on and cook for over 20 people. They actually had to put the closed sign up and run to the grocery store to get more food to cook for all of us and more ice. One of the guys in the group said we must have made their day, and we probably paid there rent for the month.

After we ate and took a few shots around Niland, we went back to the sea to Bombay Beach. Bombay Beach was pretty surreal. There are several salt encrusted vehicles and structures strewn along the shore, abandoned and decrepit houses and mobile homes in between occupied residences. On the shore near the water, there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of dead fish and fish remains from what looked like years of die offs. There were several people there fishing along what was left of the marina. Despite the die offs, it seems the tilapia fishing is good.

We stayed at Bombay Beach until after sunset, leaving around 8:30-9:00 pm. We headed back to the Mecca Starbucks, where about half the group left to go home. The rest of us went to the Morongo Casino in Cabazon for dinner. After dinner, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways home. It was close to 2 am when I finally got home and took a much needed shower.

I'm currently working on processing my photos from Salvation Mountain, and I hope to have some of them done and online Wednesday. I took about 500 frames, so weeding that down will be some work. I haven't even looked at the shots I took at Bombay Beach yet. I'll probably be working on those through the rest of the week.

I spent Saturday in downtown L.A. in Little Tokyo at the Cherry Blossom Festival with Brett. It was pretty cool. I don't spend much time in Little Tokyo, so it was a nice change of pace.

We both had our cameras (actually, we both had my cameras, since my S3 IS is on long term loan to Brett) and took lots of pictures. Mine are here, Brett's are here.

I noticed a scratch on the focusing screen of my 40D, and stopped at Canoga Camera to get a replacement, and, ohmyGAWD, that place is photo geek heaven. They have EVERYTHING! Okay, maybe not everything, but they have a lot and it's all droolworthy. I totally recommend this shop. Before going there on Saturday, I'd only bought from them through their website. From now on, when I need something from them, I'll take the 20 minute ride to the store.

I didn't have time to change the focusing screen before going downtown, so for the entire day, that damn scratch drove me crazy. But now I have a new screen, a better one, in fact, installed.

My Canon 17-85 lens is starting to act up. The autofocus is jumping around when it's zoomed past 17mm. Not just normal hunting, but jumping to and fro and to and fro before focusing. It's probably a faulty USM motor that can be replaced. Peeves me, since this is my standard walkaround lens, pretty compact and easy to carry. Sending it for repairs means I won't have it for minimum two weeks. But at least the Canon service center is just over in Irvine, and their service is very good, so I expect my repaired lens will be as good as new.

That I don't do enough updates.

So, the job hunt is slow. I've found a few positions to apply to, but no bites. But, it's the beginning of the year, more jobs listings will be showing up. If nothing else, working over ten years in recruitment advertising has taught me that.

I have yet to get anything from unemployment, even though I applied almost 2 months ago and did get a letter back telling me my claim was accepted. Since there's record unemployment right now, I am absolutely unable to get through to them on the phone, I can only e-mail them, and the responses I've gotten back so far haven't come close to answering my questions. Good thing I'm sitting on some decent saving now so I can survive for a while.

I spent Christmas in the redwoods, visiting lrc  and his GF zabster in Felton and stayed for their Christmas party, which wasn't a Christmas party. Since he isn't Christian and doesn't celebrate Christmas, Larry, instead, has been organizing Whiskymas for about 20 years, where folks come by to eat vast quantities of food and sample whisky. Larry is a very good cook, and has quite a whisky collection, to which I have contributed to over the years.

I also spent some time shooting with lrc  and the_ogre , my pictures are posted here. I definitely enjoyed going to the beaches in Santa Cruz to shoot, and I really want to go up there again soon for more. I can think of a lot of vantage points and images to try of the rocks and cliffs woth getting.

Larry had a cold, and he gave it to me (not the sort of gift giving I had in mind). Actually, both he and his GF had colds, but, since Larry is the guy, of course it's his fault I caught a cold. Second cold I had in a month, which led to a sinus infection, which lead to a middle ear infection that I'm still trying to recover from. My ear is still congested and I have diminished hearing because of it. It's like the right ear is under water. I just finished a course of oral steroids for it, which made me itch and caused insomnia, and I'm still taking antibiotics. I have to go back to the doctor next week, and, hopefully, the fluid will have cleared by then or else he'll have to put in a drain. Blah.

More news with my pictures. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has a competition related to an outdoor exhibit called "Urban Light." They invited people to submit their images of the installation for inclusion in a special order book and/or on their website. I submitted several of my photos and was notified last week that my images were among the early finalists. I'm not sure how many rounds they will go through before they select the final finalists, but I have my fingers crossed. My Urban Light shots can be seen here.