They Say The Neon Lights Are Bright On Broadway (In LA)

During my time in Los Angeles, I decided that I wanted to learn how to photograph neon signs better.  It really is tricky because you have to choose what you want in your photograph.  You can either get the tubes with the neon to be focused and sharp, but then you sacrifice basically everything else in the picture.  Or you can have the picture be lighter but lose the crispness of the neon tubes.  Me I'd rather have the darker, sharper neon so I set out to practice on the few remaining neon signs in the old Broadway theater district.

Ellen Degeneres Show

I was fortunate to do most of the things that I got to do in Los Angeles, but none more so than seeing a taping of the Ellen Show.  There were only a few tickets available, and the day of the taping was a rehearsal day so I got one of the tickets!

The taping was fun, but I have to say that the show feels completely different when you are in the audience.  Ellen seems more focused on her performance and interacts very little the audience.  It is interesting because she seems so personable when you watch the show on TV.  Also I was slightly disappointed that my only free gift was a book.  I mean not that I thought I was going to leave the studio with a car, but I would have been okay with a car!!
 

Don't Get A Divorce...

Speaking of donuts, I forgot to post this picture earlier.  When we went to the Disney Studios in Burbank, we were arriving early in the morning (well for us at least) so of course that meant we needed donuts.  We used Google Maps to find a place close to the studio, and the Donut Prince is what came up.  Now before we even got out of the car we noticed their slogan, "Don't get a divorce; get a donut"!  Needless to say we found a gem!  It turns out the Donut Prince is a local favorite with the Hollywood types.  The restaurant is filled with pictures of celebrities eating donuts, and we also discovered that they have a commercial that you can watch on YouTube.  Here is the link (I will not comment on it except to say it is well worth anyone's time to watch it!!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su2cp296jeI 

Road Trip Part 3: The Donut or Newport Beach

So the whole purpose of this trip was actually to get a doughnut.  Now Jeremy had previously taken a trip to Newport Beach before, and he at a doughnut shop there to get a treat for the drive home.  Well as it turns out it was the best doughnut he had ever eaten, and so of course we had to go and judge for ourselves!

The beach was nice too.

So how was the doughnut?  It was very good.  Although, it was a yeast doughnut, and if I had my choice I would choose a cake doughnut.  But I enjoyed it nonetheless!
 

Road Trip Part 2: Overlook

The second part of our road trip was one that we did not plan on originally.  As we were driving to Laguna Beach we couldn't help but notice the hills in the area, and we theorized that if we could find an overlook we would also find some great views.  It was true!

Road Trip Part 1: Laguna Beach

One day Jeremy, Brett, and I took a little trip to the beach.  Well we actually went to two different beaches, but we did not spend any time on the beach proper.  This was more a camera club type of trip with one very specific goal.

We started at Laguna Beach.

Birds!

Hockey, eh?

Brett is a big hockey fan, and he really wanted to get a group together to go to a LA Kings hockey game.  Well I'll give most things a chance so I went too.

What I discovered is that watching hockey live is too fast paced for me to know what is happening.  I did get to eat some good nachos though!

Zamboni!