Downtown Laguna Beach

This is a nice shot of downtown Laguna Beach at the intersection of Ocean and PCH (Pacific Coast Hwy). It is late in the day as you can tell by the long shadows. I love all the colors here, from the houses on the hills to the businesses on the streets, not to mention the people from all over the world. You hear many languages spoken as you walk around. It is a fun place to be and there is so much to see. The ocean, of course, is at my back!

343/365

Laguna Beach Sunset

Isn’t this a beautiful sunset? The silhouette turned out great after a few Photoshop adjustments. Is that cheating? I don’t think so. All of us photographers use Photoshop! I just made it more of a silhouette so no one would be recognized. I confess, I took it at the PhotoWalk last month. It is on my gallery pages in its original form. You can check it out there. The individual PhotoWalk winners are out now and the overall winner will be announced soon.

338/365

My Very Last PhotoWalk Image (I Promise!)

Today was the last day to download our photos to the PhotoWalk site. I had some work to do and decisions to make as to what two photos I chose. This was not one of them. I also selected 16 or 17 images from the PhotoWalk and put them on my gallery site. Please have a look. I have shown you a few of them here, but the majority of them you have not seen. I decided to put together this panorama today. I am happy with the result.

Laguna Beach twilight panorama…

There were a lot of families at the beach having a real good time. As you can see, this is a South facing beach. The sun is setting straight ahead in the West. As I said before, I spent the majority of the day sitting in front of the computer. I was able to make some spaghetti sauce for dinner. It was very good with angel hair pasta and a little garlic toast. I am a good cook – have I ever told you that? I learned a lot from my mother and I enjoy watching the Food Network and the cooking shows on PBS. Have a good Sunday!

324/365

Do You Have a Sweet Tooth?

Willie went absolutely crazy when he saw this pastry in a merchants window. His mouth was drooling, but he did not buy anything! Didn’t do that much for me – I am more of a crunchy cookie person myself!  I took this in Laguna at the PhotoWalk. I had my polarizing filter on my lens to take better photos in storefront windows, but it did not work too well for me. This one worked somewhat – I just had trouble with the florescent lights at the top of the case – but I think it worked out alright.

Some delicious (and high calorie) pastries…

I got some sad news today. I learned that my cousin Denny Smith died three days ago. I have tried a few times to find him, but like everyone else, I assumed I had all the time in the world. He was only one year older than me! At one time as young kids and teenagers, we were very close and very good friends. Our lives took us in different directions and, well, what can I saw… He was the son of my mother’s sister Mary, who died at the very young age of 45. His brother, Tommie, sent an email to my brother Frankie and he forwarded it to me. I am very,very sad and very, very sorry. Will we learn a lesson from this? Probably not, but, if there is someone out there you want to make contact with, do not put it off thinking you have all the time in the world.

323/365

A Lifesaving Lifeguard

I was hoping when I took this photograph that it would be a good one. I was right and I am very pleased with the result. I see it as a little posterized, but I think the image can handle it. Do you think it could use some more adjustment to eliminate some of the posterization? I would really like your opinion on this. Maybe just on the water to his right. He never stopped scanning the water in front of him. What a responsibility!

What is it with Lifeguards and Paramedics – is being real cute a job requirement…?

Annette and I had a great time at lunch today. We sat on the patio at Corner Bakery for about two hours. There was a very cool ocean breeze blowing. We just stayed out of the sun! We talked about Photoshop, dreamweaver, web design, lynda.com and so much other stuff. We have so much in common and it is great to have friends like that. But, I guess that is what a friend is! The dogs have been enjoying their ice cubes (we call them cubes) and they get very excited when we break them out!

321/365

Blowing in the Wind

This was hanging down at the beach outside a little store. It was whirling and twirling around. However, I do not know what to call it! It is not a flag or a banner, but like a stationary kite hanging from a pole. I thought it was very pretty and colorful. I stopped the action for the photo but maybe I should have lowered my shutter speed so you could see some movement! Or if I had had a video camera, I could have shown you the whole show!

A great summer image from Laguna Beach…

I am going to meet my friend Annette for lunch tomorrow at Corner Bakery Cafe. She has never been there. Have you? I heard back from Randi today (my nephew Geoff’s girlfriend) who said it was very hot and an unsuccessful week-end for all of the Monises at Fontana Raceway. I thanked her for alleviating my guilt for not going – she said I made a wise decision.  It was quite warm today and I spent time sorting and working on some of my photos from the PhotoWalk. I will download some of them at the end of the week. Until tomorrow!

320/365 

Beach Volleyball!

Here is my second photo from the Laguna Beach PhotoWalk. It is a common sight and I believe it is very representative of the lifestyle of Laguna Beach. There are many volleyball nets on the beach where Laguna Canyon Road meets Pacific Coast Highway. You can tell from the long shadows that it is late in the afternoon. I will be downloading my images to a Flicker account our Leader set up.

Beach volleyball on the sand in Laguna Beach…

We didn’t make it out to Fontana today for the races. I hope it was a good day for everyone! I am sure I will hear about  it later. We were over at Larry and Shelley’s for a little while this afternoon. They have been doing a lot of yard work and everything is looking really nice. We took the dogs with us and they had fun running around the yard. Willie is going to barbecue us a steak for dinner. He does that really well. We will split the steak and split a potato I put in the oven. I am sipping a vodka tonic he made for me and all is right with the world!

319/365

Laguna Beach Photo Walk

Today was finally the day for over 25,000 people to be part of the 2009 Photo Walk. It was a beautiful evening in Laguna Beach, CA, with a great turn-out of fellow photographers. Willie and I met some very nice people. Our group leader was Alan Sisto, a professional photographer himself. Our friends Carol and Bill were there and it is always nice to spend time with them. I finally decided what photo to show you from today!

The photographers are ready to start walking…

Dinner was good at BJ’s in Laguna Niguel. Overall, I think it was a successful evening. The weather was great, in the low 70’s. There were so many people at the beach! I will start going through my images and Willie’s tomorrow. Everyone was very nice and very willing to share and talk about photography. There was a wide range of equipment too – from camera phones to high end professional gear. It will be interesting to see everyone’s images when they are downloaded. Laguna Beach is beautiful. Maybe next year we will go to San Diego or Santa Barbara!

318/365

A Juicy Tart Lime

Here is another food photograph this month. I had asked Willie to fix me a drink this evening (he makes a mean vodka tonic with lime). He cut the lime in half and I thought it would make a nice photograph. I was right! I did eventually get my drink but not until I took several photos and downloaded them all. I used my +4 macro filter. I wanted to show all those little pockets of juice. It came out looking fresh and juicy. This is not from the tree we bought last year. I don’t think we will get any more fruit until the Fall. For now, they come from the market!

Juicy, fresh tart lime…

I spent more time working on the new computer today. The software takes so much time to download. I had to add my Google toolbar and get the desktop the way I want it. I still have a long way to go! I guess it will be worth it – I sure hope so! Willie was not feeling real good today, a little stomach trouble. He seems to be ok now. I need to decide what classes I am going to take this coming semester. I have another week to decide. Willie and I, along with friends Carol and Bill, are going to be part of the Laguna Beach PhotoWalk Saturday evening. We got an email from our “leader” today with final info for the event. We are looking forward to it. Any of you going to be on one on Saturday? Let me know about it and where you will be.

314/365