For my last night in Los Angeles I decided to conclude my trip with some more long exposure night photography. I decided to venture out to Santa Monica Beach with the intention of shooting the pier as the sun went down. However, when I actually started shooting the sun had already set and there was there were a few minutes where the sky was different gradations of blue before it finally transitioned into a dark black night sky.

Below are some of my thumbnails from the shoot. It was really cool waiting to see all of the variations of light patterns that the ferris wheel was 'rolling' out onto my images. That's probably the thing I like the most about long exposure photography - the uncertainty, the waiting and the surprise to see happens because they all turn out slightly different (especially when the exposure is for an excess of 10 seconds). I guess its somewhat similar to the experience of shooting with film (albeit a much faster process). The frame of mind that I enter into whenever I shoot film (or long exposures), not being able to instantly see what the camera has captured makes me begin to wonder, and then when you find out in the darkroom (or on the back of the camera after the exposure wait time). What I love most about it is you get to see the image that the camera has cooked up during that time.

So when I began shooting each frame I was also trying to correct the 'errors' in my previous shots, mainly I was trying to get the horizon line relatively straight but I knew that there would inevitably be some barrel distortion because my focal length was quite wide around 17mm (on my crop sensor). Nonetheless after about a dozen frames I knocked the camera by accident during an exposure and what I was left with looked a little like a 'crazy' light painting'. And as you can see from the subsequent frames I decided to move the camera more intentionally thereafter seeing what kind of images would surface after the process (see images below). This was pretty fun and I really like how vibrant the images turned out. I think I just might print a few in a larger collage or something some time soon.

If you haven't done any long exposure (slow shutter) photography before I strongly encourage you to try it out. You'll need a tripod or a way to balance your camera while the photo is being taken if your looking to get a sharp image, but if your looking to get more motion blur type images like the ones above you'll be fine to handhold the camera while you move it. If you end up shooting any, feel free to show me, I'd love to see what you capture! Also, if you have any questions about the specifics of how to do long exposure/slow shutter photography check out this link: (CLICK ME) - failing that feel free to drop me a message and I'll be more than happy to help.

Take care and have a great week!

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (Part 3) Santa Monica Pier