Contrail and Palm Trees

Twilight in SoCal the other night.

Dusk on the Bay

If you ever come to Long Beach, and you look out over the bay from Bluff Park, you'll see these islands. They look nice. They're oil derricks.

4th St Dusk

I was out for a walk about the time of the sunset the other day, and I didn't take my camera because it just looked uninteresting outside. I came around a corner and saw the sky kinda going off in a somewhat interesting compostion, so I hurried home and grabbed my camera. Unfortunately, it had already started dying off in just the couple of minutes it took me to make the round trip back to this spot. I did, however, end up with this capture, so it certainly wasn't a total washout.

Blue Golden Hour

Obviously, it's still the "golden hour" even though it certainly has a gloomy, blue caste. And I didn't manipulate the colors to make it so. It was a pretty dingy looking night anyway. I found this trail on the north side of Signal Hill Park. I didn't even know this spot was there. I was simply doing a little scouting/exploration, chasing the sunset due to the funky clouds--a seeming rarity this time of year here in SoCal. The clouds kinda congealed, but that small break at the horizon allowed me to get a somewhat interesting sunset out of this. The sky never lit up after this, so I packed up my gear and went home. I will have to try this place again, though.

Sundown at the Lagoon

I was simply scouting this location (I think it's a winner), and this happened while I was there. Like so often when doing this kind of thing, you gotta find the right place for the right thing to happen. And when it does....

SoCal Golden Hour

Chasing sunsets or other nature shots always leaves you at the mercy of nature as to what is going to happen. I saw some big clouds hanging around a couple hours before sunset the other night, so I went chasing. I was looking around in Seal Beach by the pier, but just couldn't find a composition I liked. So, I ended up on the pier. The clouds which had been hanging about kinda morphed into this huge thing in the sky, but I found myself in just the right spot for it. I sat there until after the sun went below the horizon, and I waited for a bit, but the sky never lit up. Bummer, but that is the way it goes. However, before the sun actually set I did get this shot with some nice color, a great reflection, and perfect leading lines. Hope you enjoy.

Sunset over bridge

I was playing around with some more images I captured Monday over by the marine stadium here in Long Beach. Here's a dark, moody one.

Blue Hour At The Marine Stadium

Here's another blue hour shot. This time from last night, at the Naples end of the Marine Stadium. There were some semi-interesting clouds hanging about late enough in the afternoon, so I decided to chase the sunset after missing what appeared to be a major burner the previous evening. I found this spot with the bridge, and it wasn't fantastic as the sky never really lit up, but it certainly wasn't a dud, either, like the last time I went chasing the sunset. It happens. You gotta take what Mother Nature gives you when you're doing this kind of thing.

Headlights at Dusk

A couple years ago I found myself in Big Sur at sunset. And this happened a little later.

Semi-fiery sky

The clouds lookded kinda interesting around sunset yesterday, and since I had not done so in a while, I strolled over to Bluff Park to check out if I might get a decent capture, even though I've pretty much overdone that spot. But...it's the only decent spot like this I can walk to, so I've spent an inordinate amount of time there, photographically speaking. It might be impossible to spend too much time here otherwise. It is an incredible spot.

Anyway, the sky never really went off, so I certainly didn't get a stunner of a sunset, but I got a decent pic anyway.