LA Trip

Sights and Sounds of Venice Beach, CA:


After the long day of preparing for our Grand Opening I could have used the entire next day to sleep. Instead, I was up at 4:00 am to make a flight to Los Angeles for a video shoot with some of my favorite clients at STACK Magazine. Josh from STACK was there as well as Danny Vega and his assistant Brian to handle the photography. We met up with Ben Snowden, BMX trickster currently in the Dew Tour and Fabiola De Sliva, inline skater. The shoot went very well and we got some awesome images. I also got my first parking ticket in Santa Ana. Gotta' love that. A big "thank you" goes out to the hard working men and women of the Santa Ana parking patrol who diligently patrol every street and alleyway. No citation is too small and they never take "no" for an answer. For that matter they don't take, "I'm a member of the media.", "I'm literally moving my car right now." or "Please don't give me that ticket! "


The next day we headed to Thousand Oaks, CA for a shoot with Reggie Bush at Elite Athletics. Reggie was great and showed us some amazing workout routines. The entire staff at Elite Athletics was great and I highly recommend any athlete living in the Thousand Oaks area to check them out. You will be able to see all these videos when we finish editing them at http://www.stack.com/.


When the Reggie Bush shoot was finished we drove back to our hotel. Josh, Danny and Brian took naps or checked email. I decided to make a trip through the hills of Malibu. I made my way through the curvy, narrow mountain roads until I found a small pull-off area with a steep trail to a plateau. I grabbed my camera and tripod and climbed to the top. Slipping on loose gravel the entire way, out of breath I made it to the top to reveal a breathtaking view of the mountainous California countryside. I set up my camera, opened the lens hood and then realized I forgot to grab a battery. Needless to say I did not try to climb the trail again. Instead I made my way back to the hotel to catch a ride with the guys back into L.A. where we visited Venice Beach and had some fresh seafood.


At Venice Beach I did manage to bring my camera and my battery and grabbed a few fun shots of the surfers, setting sun and Venice Beach artwork (check out the video clip below). It was a fitting end to a great trip. The next morning I grabbed some breakfast and spent the next 8 hours in airports and airplanes as I made my way back home. I got a good night sleep and was up the next day for another perfect wedding!