Sunday, September 2, 2007 – Hothouse Hot

The second day of September, just after noon, one hundred in the shade, one hundred five in the sun, giant dark thunderheads in the distance building out over the mountains, from the stream of tropical heavy air drifting up from Baja – and the radio says the "heat index" makes it feel like one hundred thirteen.  The Sunset Strip is empty, no cars, no trendy and hip young folk, no tourists – everyone is hiding, or at the beach. The traffic reports on the radio say there's gridlock on Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica out beyond Malibu. The beach might have been a real bad idea. A mile or two west of the Sunset Strip turn left on Roxbury Drive, the street where George and Ira Gershwin and Oscar Levant and all the music folks once lived, and you'll find this curbside – roses in the heat.  They may be the only things looking good in Los Angeles on this day.

Backlit Mimosa – the tree, not the Sunday brunch at the club drink (half champagne, half orange juice) –

If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back this site.

Technical Note:

Most of these photographs were shot with a Nikon D70 - using lens (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto, or after 5 June 2006, (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor, 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. They were modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  Earlier photography was done with a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom.

All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik