Photo project: take a new look at the Beach Cities with your camera eye
Colorful, arty garage on Manhattan Avenue in Manhattan Beach, by Jefferson Graham for the PhotowalksTV project
You could spend thousands of dollars to visit Europe and explore other worlds.
Or you could do something way cheaper and very novel this weekend: take a “photo-cation” like visit to your hometown, going to places that have been ignored by you, as you lead your busy life. Think Manhattan, Hermosa, Redondo.
Going out with the camera this way enabled “me to go out and explore my own city and play tourist for the day,” says Angela Andrieux, who you will meet on an upcoming edition of PhotowalksTV edition, from San Diego. “You get to experience what’s local, what’s around you. There’s just so much to see and do out there.”
I recently gave myself a personal photo project: to go out and photograph the best of my hometown, Manhattan Beach, but with a caveat. I couldn’t photograph her jewels: the Pier and beach. How much could I come up with?
The results actually astounded me. I expected to round up about 20 photos. Instead, I’m topping 80. (Examples here:)
Artwork at the westdrift Manhattan Beach hotel, by Jefferson Graham for the PhotowalksTV project
I never realized just how much public art was all over the city, how we have two restaurants over 100 years old (Ercole’s and Shellback Tavern) and how much there is away from the sand and sea.
Art is everywhere you look and with your camera, you can make some pretty cool art too.
A splash of morning colors on the corner of Manhattan Beach and Highland avenues in Manhattan Beach, by Jefferson Graham for the PhotowalksTV project
So go capture the flavor of one of the beach cities by skipping the obvious candidates. No Pier for Manhattan. No Pier Plaza for Hermosa. Forget about the Marina for Redondo.
I hope this exercise encourages you to look at your hometown in a different way. Yes, the gems will shine the brightest, but isn’t it fun to look a little harder and uncover some gold you barely noticed before?
Have fun!