My recent trip to California was mostly a photographic bust. My available free time was spent either on cloud covered mountain tops or walking around at high noon. Neither very conducive towards great pictures. I was trying to burn some time driving up and down the Pacific Coast Highway before my flight back to the east coast. I’d heard of the Santa Monica Pier so I figured I’d check it out. There was quite a bit of opportunity for some interesting “street photography” at the pier and the beach nearby and although I considered it I didn’t bother packing my 50mm. I don’t like to lug around a lot of gear but at the same time I still have a hard time getting up close to strangers with my 50mm, I feel like I’m getting into their personal space. Great for kids not so much for strangers. I’m thinking of investing in an 85mm which seems to be a staple on the portrait \ people side. In the end I just walked around a bit to see if anything caught my eye. Although this picture of the Ferris Wheel and roller coaster is practically high noon I thought the overlapping colors and lines were still interesting, kind of like Titan came out of the ocean and puked up a roller coaster after eating too much colored cotton candy! Although this is HDR I really toned down the saturation on it because the colors were already vibrant enough, practically neon in the daylight.
