A couple weekends ago, my friends and I went to The Getty Villa… the first time I have visited. The architecture and the statues were amazing… Moving through from one exhibit to another, the public areas made for great photography opportunities.

Some of the areas were so hidden too, when I was looking at the aerial I noticed we had missed a completely different structure. Of the areas we did visit were beautiful… I just wish I could have used a tripod.

I plan to eventually go back in the next few months.

Note… If you are coming from the North on the Pacific Coast Highway (Interstate 1), you must pass the entry road and u-turn coming from the South.

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In the final post from a couple weekends ago, my friends and I went to Pasadena… visiting the downtown and making a trip up to the Art Center College of Design. To our surprise, the place was open on a Sunday to walk around and to visit the student gallery.

Designed by architect Craig Ellwood, the modernist glass-and-steel “bridge building” spans across the entry road. The interior spaces were quite similar to any other college’s interior space, but there is access to the two exterior pathways over the roadway.

The surprise came when the college actually exhibits the student’s project in a free museum-like area. The college had display for every discipline, but the most noticeable was the full-size BMW design, the branding design and the large interior space for the poster displays.

By far, as a graphics and designer… this was a great find and a place I would visit once again.

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So after spending most of the middle of the day at The Getty Center, we headed off to MODAA… and found out it is close on the weekends. Instead. we headed to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or LACMA.

Again, I have been here many times before… once in middle school and a couple times in the last decade, but this was the first time since the new expansion by architect Renzo Piano with the light-pole sculpture and the rock installment. With the expansion… the architecture is amazing, the elevator is huge (like a Ford F-150 could fit in it) and the exhibits were just okay… just too contemporary for my taste.

Again, an amazing temporary gallery for Stanley Kubrick is a must see exhibit. I had never connected so many great movies to him because I have never been a need to see this director type of person. But just seeing the exhibits for Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, Spartacus, 2001: A Space Odyssey and so many more. Now I need to see the few films that I haven’t seen of his… and also to seeing his early photography work before film was amazing to see too.

Lastly, the rock installment is just scary and exceptional. My friend questioned going underneath it… while my worry was, “Place no earthquake right now.” I need to come back to a few of the installments at a later time… but we had other places to visit…

After leaving LACMA… we explored some random city streets to and ended up at the Griffith Observatory. Now this is the first time I have ever been there because there is always NO PARKING. We found a parking spot maybe a half to three-fourth of a mile down the hill-side road. And the most important information will help with anyone who visits the Griffith Observatory… there’s a tram service that passed us while hiking up the hillside… next time!

So it was a really busy night up there… first, the vistas of Los Angeles and Bunker Hill area are really great. Second, really friendly astrologist sharing the use of telescopes to check out Jupiter and the stars. Third, I overheard that the International Space Station was going to travel above… and wow, with the naked eye, you can see the dot rise, then travel across the sky, and set within 20-30mins.

I need to comeback again to visit on a less busy day… but I’m normally not in Los Angeles on weekdays. Someday…

Hopefully you enjoyed the set… the final part will be of Art Center School of Design in Pasadena.

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A couple weekends ago, March 27 and 28, I meet up with two of my friends from college… One living in Los Angeles and the other came down from Sacramento, CA. Of course, as architecture students… we had to go see the some of the architecture sites in and around the Los Angeles area. During the weekend, I photographed at the Getty Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Griffith Observatory and Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. In this first part of a three part series, I’ll be sharing my Getty Center photographs.

Now I have been to the Getty Center twice before, but this is the first time where it was a beautiful sunny day, normally in the fog or clouds being on top of a mountain near the coast… and also the first time I have really photographed there. If I lived in Los Angeles, I may be here almost every month just to people watch because it is free to attend, you have to pay for parking if on site and just areas to relax.

First, if you have any interest in Architecture… the current temporary exhibit is the history of architecture in Los Angeles (not allowed to photograph in exhibits). By far, a major bonus for us architecture person. Second, architect Richard Meier’s and landscape architect Robert Irwin’s designs make the Getty Center just a beautiful place to see contemporary architecture.

Lastly, the views over Los Angeles are some of the best. Hopefully, you enjoy the rest of the photos… part 2 and 3 post in the next couple days.

And if you are a friend of mine and photo-bomb my photos, I post them.

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I have been editing away the last couple nights on some photographs I took a while back. These photos are of Nikita Esco, a model that I had seen many times in Asian Car Magazines in the mid-2000s when I was interested in that scene.

Now that I have meet and photographed Nikita Esco, she is an awesome model to work with. Hopefully we get to shoot again in the future.

If you like to follow more about Nikita Esco, her twitter is @NikitaEsco.

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Last weekend, I told myself I needed to go photographing… I have to shoot something this weekend. So on Saturday, my father told me the back-country roads to Santa Barbara, CA were open… and they only are open for a limited time. Close during winter because it’s to wet, closed in the summer and fall because it gets too dry and becomes a fire danger. I was excited to go back there.

Now, photography opportunities are quite limited… as you see, we were lucky to catch some para gliders and hang gliders taking off from what Google calls “Rattlesnake Park” which is above “Rattlesnake Canyon” (if I had known that, I would have been a lot more careful). The other place was way back during our fording of the Santa Ynez River in the above photograph, this area is closed during the off-season because it’s part of the dirt road section.

Too be honest, even if it wasn’t a great landscape photography place… it was fun hanging out with my father and mother for the day. And it is also such a nice place just to go out, relax and have a nice drive.

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I know… I’m really behind on my photographs and I need to be more on top of editing and posting them. This hike I went with my 3 friends to Zion National Park in the fall… maybe a couple weeks prior to yellow leaves on the trees. Zion National Parks is one of the greatest escapes from the Las Vegas valley, and I think I may need to go again in the next few weeks (meaning I’ll post those photos in August).

On this day, the park was packed at the visitors center and couldn’t easily get to the tram rides into the main part of the park. We ended up first going through the tunnel to the southeast part of the park. After going through the tunnel, we were surprised by an open parking spot to do Observation Point hike. I had never hiked it before, but I didn’t know of any other hikes that weren’t all-day hikes in the southeast part of the park.

The hike was great and some interesting points… the huge overhang (Photo 2), the slim fall apart part and the overlooks in the southeast valley. When we did get to the end of the hike we were surprised by an amazing overlook of the main part of the park. This hike was fairly easily minus the beginning with maybe 50 steps up a marked and railed stair path, but anyone could do.

After there, we headed all the way to Checkerbox Viewpoint, then headed back towards the visitor’s center stopping at a few roadside turn-offs. On one of these stops, we got to see a large male Bighorn Sheep (Photo 17) on the side of a steep mountain. First time for me seeing a full-grown Bighorn Sheep (seen females sheep and children before).

Finally we headed back to the visitor’s center mid-afternoon and could easily find a parking spot and ride the tram into the main part of the park. Stop at a few of the stops and hiked a bit of the Narrows Path and the very north stop of the tram… but no water hiking.

On the way back to the visitor’s center, it was becoming Golden Hour and sunset was close… so we got off at the intersection stop near where ever photographer captures the easy, classic Zion National Park photo… I had done i the past, so we headed down the paved path to the Visitor’s Center. Along the hike, we photographed going down to the river edge or from the footpath bridges was taking photographs of the Watchman Peak. The first shot in the post was what I ended up with.

Again, Zion National Park is an amazing park to go visit if you are in Southern Nevada / Utah area and always willing to go photograph.

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I have been to Death Valley three times prior, but had never been on any of its hikes. My friend Jane and I decided to see what Mosaic Canyon trail had to offer.

We first started by entering the park from Beatty, Nevada and thinking I could stop at the Death Valley ranger station there… of course, it is closed now (been there in 2008 and was open). So first we went to Rhyolite ghost town where they have their Open Air Museum. I’ll be honest, not interesting this time since I have been their once before.

After Rhyolite, we headed west into Death Valley and our hike at Mosaic Canyon. The hike was quite popular as when we showed up, there were many cars and a bus full of either college or high school students. The best part of the hike is people give up early on the hike and don’t continue the whole trail.

Within the first half mile to mile, the hike goes through some amazing marble formations. At first, I thought this would be the difficult part of the trail, but it was possible just the scariest part of the hike. Hiking over water-smoothed marble is the second most unforgiving material to walk on (first is sand on a smooth rock), one mistake and your footing will go out beneath you. Now, the marble area is the most photographic part of the hike… but the hike itself afterwards was much better.

So after hiking a 1 1/4 mile, you come up to a major obstacle… two large boulders block the path. To be able to past this area, you need to scramble over smaller rocks, plan on disguarding your backpack and handing it up to previous climbers. Then sneak through a small area the width of your shoulders… then you are in a wide open clearance.

After another 1 mile (2 1/4 miles up the trail), you will run into you next obstacle in the trail. A 35 foot dry waterfall made of zebra / wood stone. The people that were on the trail in front of us were going to stop their hike and head back down from here… but I had read about this trail before starting this hike. To get around this second obstacle, you have to back track 300-400 feet on there is rock steps and trail that goes up and around the dry waterfall.

Then you come to a third obstacle 2 3/4 miles and 530 foot elevation gain from the trailhead. This is where the hike has to stop. A 50-to-55 foot dry waterfall right between two cliff-like mountains… only way is to be a really good cliff climber with safety gear. The most important is my friend Jane and I completed a quite difficult hike. If you are looking just for a hike, this is it right now in Death Valley.

While coming back down, the warnings I give about hiking on the marble comes from the hike back. As coming down a 4 foot marble section, my foot slipped and I landed on my feet in the gravel below… but toes first and jamming a toe into the ground. Now I have a bloody toenail… but nothing that major that you couldn’t walk off.

We then had to go to Badwater Basin… to hit the low point. After we went to Artist Palette and a near death experience happened. As I was walking back to my car from the restroom, a car started backing up towards me. I was ~10 feet behind the car when it started rolling and I had to rush out of the way thinking what a jerk. Then I noticed the drivers door was wide open and the passenger was started to panic because there was no driver in the car. I grab on the car on the passenger side and another passerby tried to jump into the driver-side door, but luckily the passenger was able to jump over the center console and get to the brakes. If the car continued, it would have plowed into 4 cars about 200 feet behind… and again, luckily stopped after 100 feet.

After that experience, we came across the first animal (not a bird) in Death Valley. Just along the side of the road was a coyote… it wasn’t even afraid of passing vehicles. By far the best trip to Death Valley… and I plan on going again a couple more times in January and February before it begins to get hot again.

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Back in November, I started to go on hikes around the Las Vegas area again… a much needed relaxation from life. So my friend Jane has joined me on the first couple of hikes… and this is a repeat hike for me.

Calico Tanks trail in the Red Rock National Recreation Area is one of two hikes that I have been on before in the park. I knew from the first time I hiked it, it would be fun and the pay off at the end with the amazing overlook of Las Vegas. As of right now… it’s my favorite hike in Red Rock NRA.

If you plan on doing this hike, the trailhead starts at the Sandstone Quarry parking lot (3rd parking lot on the Red Rock loop). Simply stay in the canyon / wash to the right as this parking lot is also the trailhead to Turtle Head Peak. Most of the hike is quite flat with two areas mostly setup with rock steps and an area around the actually Calico Tank is a thin one person trail.

More hike photos as it is the season to do desert hikes.

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I heard about Anniversary Narrows out at Lake Mead National Recreation Area when my friend Chika came all the way from Tokyo, Japan to go hiking on this trail. Now I wasn’t able to join her on her hike, but I had to go after seeing her iPhone photos. I have be honest, one the best trails I have been within 30 minutes of the metro area of Las Vegas and Henderson.

Now on this hike, none of us had ever been on this amazing trail. I have to thank Brian and Jaimee for coming to explore a new place with their two dogs and not 100 percent knowing what we were going to see.

So, the trail consisted of layers of mostly gypsum rock that stack up what felt like 200-300 feet above the slot canyon. I can’t believe also the ruts that have been caused from flash floods that travel through this canyon.

First to get close to the hike, at mile marker 17 on the Northshore Rd… there is a parking lot here for two-wheel drive vehicles, but honestly… you can drive to the 4×4 recommended parking area as there is a mining area nearby the 4×4 recommended parking area and it’s keeped graded and flat, but don’t do if raining as it crosses multiple dry river beds. After following the sign, it’s was about 1.75 miles from the road for the recommended 4×4 parking. Now if you have a true 4×4, you can continue on to almost the entry… but you need to be good at 4×4 driving.

We parked at the 4×4 recommended parking, walked the 3/4 mile to the entry. During part of the hike, there are some old mine shafts and man-made rock walls. After that 3/4 mile, the narrows section was about another 3/4 mile in length from start to finish with some minor scrambling with only one difficult area, but nothing most hikers couldn’t do. We continued after going through the narrows for another 2 miles, but nothing as spectacular… but we went exploring and nothing difficult. This out-and-back hike was about 7 miles round-trip… and the whole time was worth it.

I will want to go back another weekend soon… and any of my personal friends are welcomed to come or can invite me to their own plans to check it out.

If you are looking to do this trail, I got most of my information on www.birdandhike.com, which is a local family who shares all the hikes around the Clark County area and mostly important, they share their gpx data. I also plan to do many more of the hikes that they have already done.

More to come… I have two additional hikes to post soon that I went with my friend Jane on… Calico Tanks at Red Rock National Recreation Area and Mosaic Canyon in Death Valley National Park.

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