Laguna Beach and San Pedro Korean Bell of Friendship, July 2013
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Title: Laguna Beach <2370>
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The shifting sands, seaweed, salt water spray, blowing sand, and other things make coastal photography challenging, which is funny to me because the final results look so calming. I like to bring the camera fairly low to the water to get certain perspectives, but this is fraught with danger. I destroyed my Nikon D90 at Bowling Ball Beach in Mendocino last summer when a sudden wave doused my camera and I. ~~~ Title: Laguna Beach <2340> |
~~~ Title: Laguna Beach <2345> |
After it grew bright, I packed up my things and drove to San Pedro. I had a giant bronze bell to see. ~~~ Title: Laguna Beach <2357> |
The Korean Bell of Friendship is a massive bronze bell housed in a stone pavilion in Angel's Gate Park, perched high up on a breezy ridge overlooking the Pacific in San Pedro, Los Angeles, CA. The "Belfry of Friendship" which houses the bell was presented by Korea to commemorate the 1976 Bicentennial of the United States and symbolize the friendship between the two nations. It was shortly thereafter deemed a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.
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 The enormous Korean Bell of Friendship in San Pedro. |
 The corner of the "Belfry of Friendship" that houses the Korean Bell of Friendship in a breezy park in San Pedro. |
 I love the starkness of the setting here. Basketball net, Angel's Gate Park, San Pedro. |
Still, though, a carne asada taco is a beautiful thing. |
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Ken's photos of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung
San Suu Kyi, as well as photos of Peru, Burma, India, Morocco, China, Thailand,
Ghana, Ecuador, and elsewhere, have appeared in many books, magazines,
websites, and galleries. Visit the
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Laguna Beach and San Pedro Korean Bell of Friendship, July 2013
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Eleven Shadows Travel Page
Contact photographer/musician Ken Lee
Wednesday 24 July 2013:
I still find long exposure coastal photography challenging, if thoroughly engaging and enjoyable. It keeps me firmly planted in the moment, which I enjoy since I often space out and daydream or think about lots of things when doing something else. I like being kept in the now.
Messing with the exposure gives the water in motion a different feel, with no two photos ever looking quite the same except perhaps if one takes the long exposures to extremes, exposing for twenty minutes - that's right, minutes! - or more. But I don't do that because there is no earthly way my camera and tripod are going to stay still for twenty minutes in the constantly shifting sand, as I am right up on the moving water, and often immersed in it.
For this one, I experimented with a slightly longer one, just for fun. Longer exposures typically give a more surreal, ethereal, misty sort of feel, and that's certainly what happened here with a 30 second exposure.
After a morning of photographing San Pedro's Korean Bell of Friendship and before that, taking long exposure coast photos along Laguna Beach, I thought some tacos were in order. I went to King Taco in Long Beach. I had long heard about King Taco. I thought the tacos were good, but was puzzled over the glowing reviews. There are a number of taco places, including Estrella Taco Truck in Highland Park that make tastier tacos, in my opinion. The horchata was also average Everything was fine, just not amazing as I had been hoping.
