New: Venice Beach Photography Series

Those who have followed my blog posts have seen as much about health-related topics, especially vaccines, as they have about photography.  Years ago I had started another blog called "Fit For Life" which I will now be using for the health-related posts (it was originally used to promote a vitamin business I had been starting, but which I abandoned to work for a vitamin company).  Going forward, this blog will be used only for photography related topics. 

Sometime around 1980 I moved to Venice, CA and have been taking photos at Venice Beach ever since.  Well, except for a good part of the 1990s when I had opened a vitamin health food store in Santa Monica and had to be there pretty much every day. 

This beginning series of posts will be about Venice Beach over the years since 1980.  Another series will be about headshot and portfolio photography, and various other subjects (lighting, composition, editing, tips and tricks, etc.).

Starting with the Venice Beach series - a little background regarding Venice Beach.  On a day to day basis, you never know what you may see.  In the 1980s there were a lot of performers - jugglers, mimes, acrobats, etc.  At the old Venice Pavilion (which is now gone) there was a skating slalom with some amazing skaters.  There were thousands of roller skaters (I was one of them) and a lot of movie and TV filming.  And there are many events during the year - the Festival of the Chariots, Muscle Beach bodybuilding and bikini competitions, basketball games, and more recently - National Topless day, and much more.

I think this photo sums up the Venice Beach experience:

There's a good chance that's the kind of day you will have.  I'll try to keep the photos in somewhat of a chronological order.  All the photos before the year 2000 were shot with a Nikon FTn.  Some color photos may have faded a bit before I was able to scan them.  They were edited to try to restore them as the best I was able to. 

The next photo is of X Swami X (Link to Google for more info) - he came out to the Venice Boardwalk with a step stool that he stood on and told jokes (some x rated, thus his name), talked about politics, etc.  He said a Polish parachute is one that opens on impact.  Also, he used to say that "all good things must come to an end, but that since this ain't such a good thing, that he would keep on talking for a while."  In the early '80s there were a lot of dogs running around Venice Beach, thus the photo.

Next - Skateboard Mama - who could be seen skating and windskating in Venice and Santa Monica well into her 80's - and perhaps she still is, although haven't seen her for a few years.  I first met her while she was doing the slalom at Venice Beach and always enjoyed talking with her over the years.  Here is a link to Google about her:  Skateboard Mama.

 The above photo was the first one I shot of her, probably around 1981 or so.  The next one was also shot around that time.

This photo of Skateboard Mama was shot in 2006 with a Panasonic FZ30 digital camera.

Back in the mid '80s I had made a folding postcard of Venice Beach - below are the photos I had included in the card:

 View of Ocean Front Walk.

 View of Venice Canals from Venice Boulevard.

 Windward Avenue looking east from Venice Beach.

The old Muscle Beach weight pen with Annie's (no longer there) in the background.

LAPD officer Kelly Shea with one of the postcards.  I can't say enough nice things about her - she was a great police officer and a totally wonderful person.  Sadly, she passed away from breast cancer a few years ago.

Hope you've enjoyed this post.  Have a wonderful weekend (and week).