Our Little Corner of the World...A Day at the Beach! Santa Monica, California...

I had an appointment in Santa Monica Wednesday afternoon...
...it was a beautiful day so I took my camera!!!

Santa Monica has the loveliest boardwalk...

...perched high above Pacific Coast Highway.

It's definitely a traveler's destination spot when traveling to California

from anywhere in the world.

The pier is iconic...
...complete with roller coaster and ferris wheel.

But the real interest when walking the boardwalk, at least for me,

and of course, aside from the spectacular ocean, is (crazy) people watching!

Notice anything odd about the footbridge over PCH?

Yep!!!  Like I said...there are bunches of crazy people down there!!!

I first saw this guy standing on the cement rail that runs the edge of the boardwalk...

about 80 feet above PCH (Pacific Coast Highway-a rather busy main road that runs along the ocean.)

He was just standing on the railing...stretching a bit...and I figured showing off a bit.

I didn't snap a pic then....but when I saw him jump onto the footbridge rail and start to 

almost dance his way to the highest arc of the bridge, I started snapping!

Keep in mind, the bridge crosses over PCH, probably around 80 feet above, 

and it was commuter traffic time so there were quite a few cars moving at quite a clip.

He drew some attention...there were several of us watching...but most of the world went by,

hardly noticing!

He was a relatively small guy with about 0% body fat...

and the first thing I thought watching him balance on the railing, and again on the footbridge was...

"Wow!  He's got a really strong core!!!"

(I take Pilates and core is what it's all about!)

I even said it out loud!  The guy nearest me turned and agreed...

and then responded "and he's crazy too!!!"

So...when you're at the beach at sunset with your camera...
and the crazy people are beginning to blend in with the crowd...
you're gonna snap a bunch of sunset photos!!!

  ISO 200 - 52mm - f/9.0 - 1/8000

It wasn't this dark when I took the shot, but this is pretty much straight out of the camera!
With no clouds around the sun it was hard to get a good pic with settings that fit the
actual time of day, so I played until I got something I liked!

ISO 200 - 52mm - f/9.0 - 1/1200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I heard this guy first before I saw him...he was pretty good.

I was looking at him with the sun in the background and immediately thought B&W silhouette...

but when I was playing with it in LR...

I had to leave just a smidgen of color!...

(partly because of the rather blown out sun path...I'll be playing with LR again soon!)

Yeah...this is how light it was when I took the 3 above! 
Pretty sneaky of me, eh???

And of course, guess who showed up, doing upside down push ups on

the cement post next to the boardwalk fence, next to the 80 foot cliff!!!

Now...if you watch HG TV at all...you know California is on the expensive side
when it comes to buying houses...especially in our beach communities.
So how many millions do you think these these little beachfront gems would go for?

ISO 200 - 78mm - f/9.0 - 1/6400

So now the color is starting to show...
and I'm still playing with the settings.

ISO 200 - 52mm - f/22- 1/80

 No...I didn't see the green flash this time.
But I did catch the one bit of contrail left in the sky!!!

On a side note...have you ever heard the superstition
that if a bird craps directly on you, it is the greatest of good luck? 
Many cultures have this superstition, and a number of them say that you will be wealthy soon.

Well...I didn't amass great wealth or good luck the first time this happened to me...
way back when I was young and headed for lots of ups and downs in my life...

But this time???
I know I'm lucky!!!


I wonder if the amount of good luck is relative to the amount of %&*#
that hits pay dirt?
If so...then I'm not just lucky...I'm REALLY lucky!!!




Click on the image below to see more little corners of the world!