Kiwi, as most refer to her, is a Southern California artist that I met several years ago while I was back in the chilly North East. We were more like “virtual acquaintances” – connecting and communicating across different creative communities, where the name associated with her portfolios would differ from Melissa Nichole, Mae Fitch, Kiwi Monster, Kiwi (and I think there was a Kiwi M in there, too).

Last year she surprised and flattered me by starting to paint one of my photos on wood. (finished version)

Always intrigued by her beautifully unique look (she’s part Native American), I asked Kiwi if she’d allow me to photograph her. Without much convincing we found some time to get together over the past year. Incidentally, she showed me around some amazing areas out in the desert east of San Diego where I wound up getting some great landscape shots and returned to on my recent road trip.

Aside from painting on wood, Kiwi delves into a variety of creative ventures – including photography. She is known to pick up non-traditional cameras and films, like the medium-format Holga, which she’s been tinkering with lately. When we went out shooting together a few times, I noticed that she truly has a different perspective when she looks through the viewfinder. You can find some of her photography and other art on flickr until she gets her act together and finishes her portfolio website.

When I moved out to California and was apartment hunting, I met Nikolette Noel and her mother over some cookies in the leasing office of the building that we would end up occupying. Nikolette was a student at a nearby university and we wound up staying in touch after we both moved.  Of course the thought photographing her was on my mind from that first plate of cookies, but I’m usually not one to impose without getting to know someone first.

As it turns out, Nikolette Noel began building her portfolio (as almost everyone seems to do here in Los Angeles) after graduation and we began to discuss getting together. After several months of back and forth, we finally found some time to see what we could pull off. I called in a favor with a friend that lives in a beautiful house in Redondo Beach, California and asked Nikolette to bring a white collared, button-down shirt. The result…

I’ve been hearing mixed terminology in Southern California for what I would call “fog” back east – this term “the marine layer” is tossed around quite a bit; specifically around Playa Del Rey and Marina Del Rey where I currently reside. Calling the marine layer “fog” has been a big enough deal for people to correct me in line at Whole Foods.

On the way back from lunch with Fake Angeleno today, we saw what looked like a wall of smoke covering everything we could see west of Lincoln Blvd. It was surreal. We obviously had to drive into it, wondering if it was yet another fire burning or the famed “marine layer”. At 2:30pm PST in September, it was about 77 degrees out and a dense fog – correction – marine layer covered the Ballona Wetlands. (as I did a little research and it seems that there IS a difference between fog and the marine layer)

Here is what Wikipedia mentioned:

It is not unusual to hear media weather reporters discuss the marine layer as synonymous with the fog or stratus it may contain, but this is erroneous. In fact, a marine layer can exist with virtually no cloudiness of any kind, although it usually does contain some. The marine layer is a medium within which clouds may form under the right conditions, not the layers of clouds themselves.

Anyway, here is a shot that I snapped from the bluffs in Playa del Rey. Look closely where the sky meets the horizon – that stuff was thick!

Being based in Los Angeles is wonderful, since I’m a short drive away from a wide variety of terrain. Snow-capped mountains, isolated beaches and rolling hills – really an amazing variety!

I’ve been venturing out into the desert here and there over the past few months and wanted to share a few of my favorite desert landscape photos. As you can see from these photos, even the deserts can vary quite a bit from one another!