Californian Beaches

Another of my marathon walks.... got into LA ahead of schedule and when I saw the clear skies I felt rejuvented... so instead of crashing out for a couple of hours I decided to get my gear and head out to the beach. I was initially planning to take the bus.. but as things usually go.. I walked.. as usual. Initially it was kind of boring as there really wasn't much to see but as I got neared to the beach area things started improving. Honestly I didn't really have a clue were I was going to end up cos I didn't really bother to check the map. All I knew was I wasn't that far (yeah right!) and it was due West. Fortunately I met a nice guy who enthsiastically gave me some good advice and I ended up walking along Hermosa and Manhattan beaches.

After walking for almost 5 hours I finally found a spot to set up and wait for the sunset and also watch the locals run or blade by the boardwalk. I decided to take a cab back to the hotel after the shoot and it was only then that I realised how far I had really walked and why my feet were killing me! Needless to say I had a really good night's sleep!

Naritasan Shinshoki Temple

Lucky me. It initially started out as a rather bleak day... light rain, a little foggy and also a little cold. Not exactly weather conditions that will get someone to jump out of bed and go take photos... fortunately it cleared later in the morning and i managed to go take some pictures at the temple. Sadly some of the buildings are being refurbished or restored so I couldn't capture all the buildings in their full splendour but it was nevertheless a beautiful compound.. much larger than I expected.

Cherry Blossoms

Howdy... am currently on my way to LA via Narita. Got here early this morning and after catching up on some much needed sleep, decided to venture out (finally) to this 'big' shopping area called AEON. Supposedly... there's this camera shop (what else) that might have some good deals on lenses and stuff.. so armed with some sketchy directions.. I headed out to explore.

Needless to say.. I never found the shop. At least I don't think I did cos the description of the shop and the directions given made it hard to tell as I did find some joint which was actually a large electronic store with a small section selling cameras... but nothing interesting enough to tickle my fancy or wallet.

Instead.. in the aimless wanderings I spotted this area where the Cherry Blossom trees were in full bloom and the breeze was causing the petals to fly all over the place. Obviously I didn't need a second invitation, whipped out the camera and started shooting.

I'm off to LA tomorrow evening but am hoping to wake up early enough to take a walk to a nearby temple to shoot some pictures as well as tire myself out so I can get some sleep before work. Then it's off for a relative short (hopefully... fingers and toes crossed) hop across the Pacific to LA where I'm hoping to practice some sunset shots and also other landscape captures at Redondo Beach as part of my 'work-up-training" for the upcoming BIG holiday :-) Again... the recent reports of the weather there are not exactly encouraging but I'm hopeful.. as ever...

Catch you later.

M@cAlfie