A Cloudy Afternoon in Los Angeles

Following the first few drops of rain this fall in Los Angeles, we had an absolutely gorgeous cloudy sky and even more beautiful sunset with a rainbow and all.... I know tons of people post their phone pictures on Facebook, but the following photographs are as usual the result of my passionate affair with this art form, so I am making the Friday Photography Blog about the cloudy LA sky and I'm not gonna apologize for it!

Whenever we can, we take advantage of our patio. And, on this gorgeous Friday afternoon, we made some Turkish tea and hung out. We then noticed the ever changing sky, the clouds forming interesting shapes, the little spots where it rains etc. I grabbed my camera and shot a few frames.

A little rainbow and a gorgeous and colorful sunset sky put the lovely dot at the end of a gorgeous narrative the sky wrote this afternoon and there is no way I can top that, so, I leave you with these...

Rusty's Surf Ranch

As I have promised for the last couple of weeks, this week's Friday Photography Blog is about a restaurant/bar on the Santa Monica Pier. If I am not mistaken, Rusty's Surf Ranch opened its doors to the public in 1994.

Located in the middle of the pier, next to the amusement park, it has two patios, one facing north, the other facing south.

It's a great place to get some food, a few drinks and enjoy live music. I really like it during the weekdays, as the weekends may be a little too touristy for my taste.

It has great Happy Hour specials daily. One of their specialties is the Blue Laguna Margarita...

There is the large main dining room, the game room with high tables and chairs and the two patios I was talking about, so there is plenty of seating options to choose from and that makes Rusty's the perfect place to hang out with friends, have a family dinner or a quality time with your date.

With an extensive collection of historic surfboards and memorabilia, Rusty's pays homage to the "Surfing '60s", the Golden Era of California Surf Culture.

Santa Monica's Municipal Pier was dedicated in 1909, and the Amusement Pier began operations with the Carousel at its heart in 1916. One year later the building where Rusty's is now located was built. The structure was referred to as "The Billiards Building" due to the seven billiards tables that were a central feature when it opened. Rusty's keeps that aspect of the building's history alive with the billiards table located in the game room.

Rusty's has good live music and an overall fun atmosphere. If you haven't been there before, check it out during one of the nights when they have live music. Go early, watch the sunset, catch the great happy hour specials, have dinner and catch the live show. It really is worth it.

The Bad Bad Things

Do you remember the 1998 movie Vey Bad Things? A dark comedy way before the era of raunchy comedies like Hangover, where a prostitute is killed during a bachelor party in Vegas and the attendees turn on each other as the wedding approaches.

Well, the name of the band The Bad Bad Things reminds me of that movie... Actually, it only reminds me of that movie's name. A while back, I watched a couple of YouTube videos of the band and I thought they were alright and they definitely spiked my interest.

Two weeks ago, after I shot the Santa Monica Twilight Dance Series, I headed to my second photography gig of the night in order to document the runner-up of the respected Emerging Artists (Battle of the Bands) competition organized by the one and only Rusty's Surf Ranch. As I promised last week, this week we are covering The Bad Bad Things and next week we'll talk about Rusty's.

The fan based showed up early, proudly wearing apparel carrying the band's artwork.

The band took stage early while the crowd was still shuffling in and they started to put up a very energetic show with great and fun drinking songs being dominant in their repertoire.

Right before the band's short break, Rusty's was getting packed with the Thursday night revelers and the still music-craving crowd coming from the Twilight Dance Series that was just wrapping.

Seeing the loaded venue, The Bad Bad Things unleashed two full throttle dance songs back-to-back sending the legion of music lovers into frantic pogoing and light moshing.

And this in return led Kryss and Casey, the lovable vocal duo of the band, to join the crowd and dance with them.

Before it got too late, the photographer took off and ran back home to the little princess and her mother who were already asleep.... Fear of turning into a pumpkin did not affect the photographer's decision.

Next week, it's all about Rusty's Surf Ranch!

Santa Monica Twilight Dance Series

For 27 years, a great festival is taking place on the Santa Monica Pier and if you live in or around Los Angeles, you most probably heard of it. Yesterday was the last day of this lovely concert series and along with the Hollywood Bowl nights, these are the events that make you appreciate living in Southern California. The series is widely considered one of the premiere free outdoor concert series on the West Coast.

I was there to photograph the set of Olio, the winner of the Emerging Artist Competition organized by Rusty's Surf Ranch, which is also located on the pier. I will have a blog dedicated to this lovely restaurant bar that is a couple of years shy of its second decade next week.

Let's get back to our sheep (as the French would say). Olio took the stage on time, right around the sunset. If you haven't been on the Santa Monica pier or beach before, it is one of the gems of the Los Angeles county. Although it's a bit touristic, there is a very strong local community and it really makes you feel its presence. If you like live music, you should definitely do the Twilight Series next year. It's free and fun.

Formed by Arif Hodzic (guitar, lead vocals) from Ontario, Canada, DeHaven (drums, lead vocals) from Fullerton, CA and Matt Sherrel (bass, vocals) from DC; Olio serves up a strong blend of rock, pop and funk, but with a keen attention to lyrics that led them to an Honorable Mention Award at the 2008 West Coast Songwriters’ International Competition. They have a fun, easy-going vibe, accommodating the PG crowd gathered on the pier.

While the trio was finishing up their opening set, the sun took a dip in the Pacific and Angelinos started to fill up the pier and the beach, from where they could watch the bands on the stage thank to a big screen installed on the side of the pier.

As I mentioned before, I was there for Olio and I haven't really paid attention to the second band Sonny and the Sunsets. I was getting ready for another shoot of yet another band inside Rusty's Surf Ranch. They are called The Bad Bad Things and I will have a blog on them next week.

Before TBBT took stage, I went our on the pier to see how the top-billed band Dawes were doing, and I am pleased to report that the Pier was packed and the band's devoted fans were braving a some-what chilly September evening.

Next week, more musical shots with The Bad Bad Things! Have a great weekend!

The mantodea that came to pray on our balcony

A mantodea, commonly known as a praying mantis, came on our balcony and Jen let me know about it immediately and although I am not particularly comfortable with bugs, I grabbed my camera and went into this incredibly dangerous, risky and life-threatening photo shoot with this predator!

A short and sweet blog for ya! :D