Tag Archives: Los Angeles

A Belated Farewell To Summer

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Although Fall had officially started on September 21, summer weather lingered on for a while here in Southern California. The temperature in Los Angeles last weekend was around 90F (about 32C) and beaches were full. But these may have been the last days of summer weather. It’s been getting cooler each day and today we had our first rain (more like drizzle). So, it’s only fitting that I bid farewell to warm days of lounging on the beach…

First, I thought I’d declare my passion for the beach using pictures taken around my two favorite beaches, Santa Monica and Venice. These letter collages are a bit challenging, but fun.

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Second, I thought I’d pay a small tribute to those lovely seagulls that inhabit and rule the beaches around here. I hope you enjoy the slideshow. 😉

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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Statues, Carvings, Sculptures

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The challenge is “Statues, Carvings and Sculptures,” but I gravitated towards sculptures, my favorite kind of art…

“Figure” by Joan Miró, at Joan Miró Foundation, Barcelona.
“Standing Woman I” by Alberto Giacometti, Getty Center, LA
Detail of sculptures at La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona.
Miro sculpture at Miró Foundation, Barcelona.
“Head of a Woman” by Pablo Picasso (LACMA, Los Angeles)
“Boy with Frog” by Charles Ray, at Getty Center, LA.
“Oxala” by Tati Moreno, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

For more on this challenge: http://www.ceephotography.com/2013/10/08/cees-fun-foto-challenge-statues-carvings-sculptures/

A Word A Week Challenge: Underneath

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“Levitated Mass” – LACMA, Los Angeles
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles
Bird under the Santa Monica Pier, CA
Underneath the hoop…
Getty Center, Los Angeles
Getty Center, Los Angeles
Underneath “Levitated Mass” at LACMA, Los Angels

For more on this week’s Word Challenge got to: http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/a-word-a-week-challenge-underneath

Weekly Photo Challenge: From Lines to Patterns

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This week’s Photo Challenge is “From Lines to Patterns.” I have quite a few shots that fit the category, so it’s been hard choosing. But here are some. I may post others later.

Getty Center, Main Building
Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA
Getty center, Los Angeles, CA
Getty Center, West Pavilion, Los Angeles
Santa Monica Pier, California
Sundays installation in honor of war casualties, Sta. Monica beach, California
Brooklyn Bridge, NY
Brooklyn Bridge, NY
“Urban Lighting” installation, by Chris Burden, at LACMA, Los Angeles

This entry is part of the Weekly Photo Challenge: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/lines-patterns/

Pelicans Over Santa Monica Bay

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I have a new passion: Brown Pelicans! They are so beautiful, so gracious. I love how they fly in perfect formation and how they plunge-dive to catch small fish, coming very close to the shore, sharing the space with swimmers and surfers. It’s an awesome spectacle. I’m glad they are no longer in extinction!

This is how the Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes the Brown Pelican:

“The Brown Pelican is a comically elegant bird with an oversized bill, sinuous neck, and big, dark body. Squadrons glide above the surf along southern and western coasts, rising and falling in a graceful echo of the waves. They feed by plunge-diving from high up, using the force of impact to stun small fish before scooping them up. They are fairly common today—an excellent example of a species’ recovery from pesticide pollution that once placed them at the brink of extinction.”

I shall improve on my shots of these lovely birds, but for now here’s some I took last Friday in Santa Monica.

Weekly Photo Challenge: An Unusual Point of View

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This week’s photo challenge is “An Unusual Point of View.” Here’s mine… 🙂

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Alexander Liberman’s sculpture “Phoenix” is a permanent installation at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art – LACMA. While photographing it, my eye caught the iPad billboard in the background. I thought it might be interesting to make it part of one of the shots. 🙂

For more Unusual POV see: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/unusual/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Sea

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This week’s photo challenge is “Sea.”

If we were to get technical, I couldn’t post anything as I don’t have photos of any of the world’s “seas.” However, since in popular language “ocean” and “sea” are used interchangeably, I will ignore that there is a difference between them and post photos of the beautiful Pacific Ocean on the California coast. 🙂

Seagull bathes in Santa Monica, CA.
Santa Monica, CA.
Santa Monica Pier.
Santa Monica, CA.
Santa Barbara, CA.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/weekly-photo-challenge-sea/

A Word A Week Challenge: Pink

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The color pink. It’s a happy color. Some love it, some hate it. I think I love it…

She wears pink on a bright sunny day.
Pink sky in Los Angeles.
Pink benches in downtown Los Angeles
Pink building in Porto, Portugal.
Pink roses upstage red rose.

This entry is part of http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/a-word-a-week-challenge-pink/

Travel Theme: Big

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Levitated Mass is an art installation at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It consists of a 456-foot-long slot, upon and at the center of which sits a 340-ton granite megalith. It is BIG! As visitors walk along the slot, it gradually descends to fifteen feet deep, running underneath the megalith before ascending back up.

Michael Heizer, the artist responsible for this installation, dreamed up Levitated Mass more than forty years ago, but only recently found the proper rock for it. The project included an 11-day journey to transport the boulder from a quarry in Riverside County to LACMA, traveling through twenty-two cities.

It’s an impressive work that required some complex engineering, given the weight of the rock and the need to address safety concerns, including those related to earthquakes. Standing under the suspended rock one can’t help but feel small and vulnerable. To me, the only disappointing aspect of the installation is that the huge brackets used to secure the rock are exposed. They are ugly, intrusive, and take away the illusion of a levitated rock. I’m sure this was not Heizer’s choice but most likely an issue of safety.

Levitated Mass was a controversial project from the start. Opponents complained about its cost –many wrongly assumed it was funded by public money– and after the installation was completed, they say it’s ugly and not real art.

This entry is part of Ailsa’s Travel Theme: http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/08/16/travel-theme-big/