Colombia Meets the Beaches of Malibu - Photography Story

"Kids don't need toys, they need kelp!" is what I told my Colombian friend, Pao. She came to visit the US for the first time and I think California made a nice impact on her perspective of American culture. I met Pao while working in Colombia last year, so when she came to LA on a business trip I gave her a tour on her day off. What's up with the kelp story you might ask? I saw some kids playing with kelp on the beach, so it was a running theme throughout the day.

Using images taken with an iPhone and Canon DSLR I will let the images tell the story.

Pao is also into photography so we had some fun with images throughout the day. She flew into LAX of course, you gotta get the LAX sign and also the Hollywood sign. I love side by side images to help tell a story. Yes, some of these are black and white, just the mood I was in.

The first stop on the tour was Hollywood. There's an old mansion that is now owned by the city called, Greystone. It looks over LA and is not very well known as a tourist destination.

From there we drove into to Griffith Observatory so Pao could see the Hollywood sign. It really is one of the best places to go for a view of LA. Pao had bought a new flute and I asked to her play a little. Really cool to hear her play.

Camera right is where the Hollywood sign is; Griffith Park this time of year looks like a desert.

What the hell? Some attitude? Ha!

That's not smog, it's this weird marine layer that covers LA in the month of June. It's called June Gloom

This was my favorite from the handful of shots I took. Great smile.

I have a small convertible so I thought it would be fun to drive along the coast. We drove from Hollywood into Santa Monica and took the PCH along the pacific 22 miles to Zuma Beach in Malibu. It's one of best drives in the USA.

We stopped at Zuma Beach where you never know who you might see. Last two three times I was there I have seen celebrities. I had a beer at the same bar Nick Nolte was sitting at, and once I ran into Michael Madsen while buying beer at the grocery store. Guess who we ran into?

Above: MG

Paramount was there shooting. Who could it have been?

We casually walked onto the set. No one seemed to mind; movie gear was everywhere. I think Pao was thinking, "I love LA"

A wild animal whizzes by our feet on the beach

Director chairs with a name written on them...

The crew is prepping for a scene. We don't see any actors.

It's Martin Sheen and Jane Fonda! If you look really hard you can see them. They were filming and I was trying not to be a paparazzi.

I just love movie gear. Sorry, back to the photo essay:

So we get back in the convertible and start to head back to LA. I told Pao, "Let's get out of here, this movie crew is dragging the party down"

Okay...so that's not my convertible.

So we drove back along the pacific and stopped at several little beaches along the highway. Some kid was drawing big dicks in the sand during sunset and I grabbed a shot.

So we drive to Venice to hang out before Pao has to catch a flight back to Colombia.

A blind man that's been playing on the boardwalk for years plays his piano.

We walk the Venice Canals and snap off shots like tourists. That's about all you can do there.

A woman sits in her backyard along the canal with her bird. A house lined with flamingo art litters the walkway.

A hippy VW bus sits on Venice Blvd asking for a photo.

"Okay, one last shot before you go back to South America!"

Then she flew away. One of my favorite days.