Some stuff from my holiday to California

[hardrockcamaro@mac.c]

Thanks, I'm hoping to take it up as a job as I'm fed up of IT...

The camera is a Nikon D200 with 18-200mm Nikon lens and I mostly used it with a polarising filter or graduated neutral density filter. The lens has VR (anti-shake) although I used a tripod for the after dark shots which are generally 30 second exposures. In the camera settings I've set it to max saturation and vivid colours plus I boost the saturation and contrast by around 10% in my editing software afterwards. I love saturated, bold colours and high contrast.


California is popular with us Brits, not as popular as Florida (mainly due to cost and flight times I suppose), I think because we see it so often in Movies and of course that's where the stars live. It gets a good "press" I suppose plus there are all the songs it features in...

San Francisco reminded me of London in comparison to LA due to its narrower streets, general lack of parking and expense. Very interesting city though, especially how it's split into different world "areas" eg China Town, Little Italy etc etc.
It's the second time I've been to LA and I love it although I can't explain why. I shouldn't like it, it's mostly low rise with awful square concrete buildings but on the plus side it has the beach (I love being near the sea) and while traffic can be heavy at times lets face it, I'm used to that living in London, heck, it's a big improvement over what I'm used to. I enjoy driving there as it's designed around the roads, there's generally plenty of parking too. I like the character of Redondo Beach and Santa Monica, plus of course Beverley Hills. It's a very diverse city.
San Diego was nice too, much smarter to look at than LA although I found it a bit more expensive. I could certainly live there though. I passed through Laguna Beach and that seemed nice.

I've been to Miami and southern Florida (the Keys, Everglades, Daytona) and I liked that too. I'v also been to upstate New York (lovely colours in the fall) and Washington but that's about it. I'd like to see Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam etc next. I then want to do a road trip taking in Detroit and Chicago (and also Rochester Minnesota and Pella in Iowa as I once knew someone who lived there).


The flight was a horrible 10 hours+ but it was worth it.
Driving a left hand drive car (my Caddy is right hand drive) was no problem as I also have an 88 Camaro which is left hand drive. Driving on the "other" side of the road was no problem either, I didn't once forget and head the wrong way, hehe. I'll tell you what rules all: Being able to turn kerb to kerb on a red light. Awesome. I wish we had that in the UK. And the traffic lights in LA seemed to be intelligent and change tio green as we approached them if it was light traffic. UK ones will keep you waiting on red even if there's no cross traffic.
The car got a *lot* of attention, in Hollywood when we parked it outside one of the clubs it got more attention than the fancier cars parked around us, people moved out of our way on the PCH and so many people on the street and in other cars were pointing at it. We had a couple of guys in Saleens and Vipers and Vettes give us the thumbs up and generally want us to punch it. Even the bikers seemed to love it.

About the only things I didn't like was the fact that people in LA drive with their cell phones glued to their ear and they can't park for ****. Twice the Shelby got hit in small, tight parking garages. It was painful watching people maneuver in tight places, they just have no idea... Then again I'm used to dealing with parking my STS in London in spots only a couple of feet longer than the car and everything here is so narrow....

[hardrockcamaro@mac.c]

Originally Posted by dirt_cheap_fleetwood

BTW, I think I know where those pictures of the carousel and the roller coaster are from. I saw an old movie once that was about a man trying to bomb a new steel roller coaster. Can't remember the title of it.

Not the movie I'm thinking of but I know the one you mean. I wonder if that one used this coaster too? Hmm....

[MauiV]

Lost Boys?

Great pics BTW.

[hardrockcamaro@mac.c]

Yup it was Lost Boys!

[hardrockcamaro@mac.c]

San Francisco:

[dirt_cheap_fleetwood]

Dude, you definitely need to make a career in the photo/films department. That vide was like a montage straight out of movie.

[hardrockcamaro@mac.c]

Thanks for the encouragement!

I quit my job in IT a month ago and now that I'm back from my vacation I'm hoping to set up some sort of business doing photography (probably amongst other things at least initially). I'd love to do video but my video work is nowhere near up to it and the equipment is too expensive. Maybe in the future though... I find the documentaries like Supersize Me and 10mph quite inspiring though...

Fingers crossed I don't have to go back to IT!

[KiwiCadi]

hardrockcamaro - thats was bloody brilliant mate! As was said before, youre wasting your time and obvious talent in IT!! Your videos have reminded me why the USA is my holiday destination of choice, bar none! I hope to be back and behind the wheel there in '09. (You're making me wish I was there now...............)

[CadillacSTS2003sgurl]

Beautiful photographs and the videos were excellent! You will do very well if you get into the photography/digital cinema business

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by hardrockcamaro@mac.c

San Francisco:

Oh how I despise that city...

Good to hear you enjoyed your trip though! A bunch of amazing photos and it sounds like a helluva good time! Next time you come, look me up and I can show you the REST of California, away from all the people and crazyness and concrete. Up north, in the right places, is freaking beautiful. I'm two hours or less from probably a hundred lakes, half a dozen or more rivers, three or four incredible mountain ranges and every sort of outdoor/mountain/wilderness adventures you could ever think of, short of an african safari...