Southern California Beach-Town Culture
By Brian Auer • November 15th, 2007
The PhotoBlog post this week will be a bit off from the norm. Rather than show one photo and describe how & why I took it, then proceed to talk about the post-processing, I’m just showing six photos. Why? Jim Goldstein is running a project called “In Your Own Backyard” and this is my project entry. He’s only requesting that the participants show off one photo from a location within 5 miles of their home, but I like to go overboard when I do things. The idea is to give folks “an opportunity to share an ‘artistic’ view of something they see every day in their own neck of the woods.”
My neck of the woods happens to be in Southern California at some undisclosed location between Del Mar and La Jolla, about a mile off the beach as the crow flies. It’s a really neat area, and the local coastline is scattered with the stereotypical beach-towns. Within a five mile radius (OK, maybe 10 miles, but who’s counting?) I’ve got Pacific Beach, La Jolla, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Cardiff by the Sea, and Encinitas. Really cool, laid-back places to hang out. So enjoy the photos, and if you’re ever in the area don’t hesitate to get a hold of me.
And one last thing: for the purpose of this project, I’m open to critique.
Brian Auer is a photography enthusiast from North Idaho. He's also the guy behind the Epic Edits Weblog. As a hobbyist photographer since 2003, his passion has been to constantly improve his photography skill set, to share his own knowledge with others, and to become an integral part of the photographic community.
Visit the author's homepage | View all Epic Edits posts by Brian Auer
From what I seen on travel channel, also well known for fish tacos! Yum.
LOL. Yes, there are many facets to these beach-towns, including fish tacos.
You’ve got a great location for taking pictures! I really like the silhouette in the sunset picture!
I live in Costa Mesa (by Huntington Beach) and I don’t make use of the ocean being in my backyard quite enough. Your entry is inspiring me to go out to the Beach to take shots more often.
It can be tough to be inspired by the places you see every day. I’ve only been here for 4 months, so things are still fresh to me. For places that I’m familiar with, I always try to remind myself that just because I’m used to seeing something it doesn’t mean that everybody else is.
Brian, you’ve reminded me also how shooting the activities at the beach can be great. Nice job.
These are some really good looking pictures, I’m also wondering if that picture of the hang glider (or whatever it’s called) is from La Jolla. I would always see people doing that over there. Great pictures again.
Yup, the paraglider was shot at the gliderport up above Blacks Beach about a mile or two north of La Jolla.
From what I can see, I bet you will love Bali also. Try the beach there… Like paradise
Love the scene at the beach ( 1st photo) and the surf club is just the kind of place i would love to hang out at.
please come & visit Bali, you will get good wave for surf and nice sunset also.
I’ve have never been in California, but I want to go.
Surfing culture is good. I’ve been in Hawaii and I think that everybody that loves surfing should go there.
This too was my backyard though we are living in Murrieta, CA now, about an hour away. It’s a long hour away though my friends as I sure miss the “spots” Brian talks about.