Santa Monica Sunset

by Az Jackson

Title

Santa Monica Sunset

Artist

Az Jackson

Medium

Photograph

Description

A golden sun setting behind the pier with the palms of Venice Beach in the foreground creating a near perfect Santa Monica Sunset in Los Angeles, California

https://azjackson.com

-- Artist Notes --

This was my second time visiting Venice Beach and my first time capturing it. I was elated to be here again and was feeling a great sense of excitement for my 20,000 mile journey across the USA that I was about to embark on.

I had only touched down in LAX about 30 minutes ago, grabbed the first hire car and took off immediately as I was worried I wouldn't make the Santa Monica Sunset in time. On the plane I was a little concerned as I watched the sun slowly creep towards the horizon and even more so as I was driving to the beach.

While taking this shot my body was filled with anxiousness (not anxiety), dopamine, adrenaline and early onset jetlag (which is actually heavy metal poisoning from the dirty air circulation on the plane). I had to sprint across the sand to get to this spot so I was also heaving to get oxygen into my bloodstream before I pass out. Over the years I have developed a method of concentrated breathing to calm my nerves when in situations like this so as not to introduce any camera shake to ensure I don't get disappointed with blurry images when I get back home.

As you can see I was blessed with an amazing sunset on my first day of shooting in LA and ended up getting some amazing shots from the 90 minutes I was there. Times like these I always wish I had more time to explore and enjoy the place but I also know that if I stay true to my mission of capturing images that make you feel like you're actually there, I can always revisit Santa Monica Sunset anytime in digital form. Definitely not the same but not a bad alternative.

Uploaded

December 6th, 2014

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