About: Gary
Landscape photographer/ travel writer. I love to travel around the USA with my camera and blog about it.
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July 11th, 2008 Written by: Gary · 1 Comment
War is not pretty and considering our current predicament in Iraq, the future does not always look so bright. With a continually weakening economy and skyrocketing gas prices, it all leads back to the Middle East.
Enter Kris Kluge, a war hero Special Forces kind of guy, freshly discharged from the battlefields of Iraq, not realizing that he is about to step on yet another battlefield that is even more challenging. Kris travels to California to take over his uncle’s trucking company after leaving the service. His absence from the civilian life for so long makes him feel like a stranger to the world he once knew. Kris’ goal is to assimilate back into civilian life, start a career, and put some distance between himself and his past. Kris’ sense of isolation from his inability to fit in, clings to him like the monkey of fear he wore on his back in Iraq. The taste of war is bitter and putrid. Like blowing desert sand, it scrapes the back of your throat and leaves it feeling raw and cracked. At the same time it is addictive.
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Tags: Literature · Reviews
July 11th, 2008 Written by: Gary · No Comments
In association with Vice magazine, Scion will present its sixth annual Photo Show at its 4,500 square foot Installation L.A. Gallery located in Culver City. Vice is an international arts and culture magazine distributed around the globe, published in 15 countries, and in almost as many languages. Dedicated to fostering independent artistic expression, the Scion Installation allows artists to explore their creative visions. This year is the first Show in LA for Scion and will include work by Australia’s self-taught and foremost cultural documentarian of the 1970s-90s, Rennie Ellis; a special section entitled “Riddles,” curated by Tim Barber, former Vice photo editor; and three of the best, contemporary photographers in Japan: Yoshiki Saitoh, Jin Ohashi, and Kawori Inbe.
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Tags: Upcoming events · art
June 17th, 2008 Written by: Gary · No Comments
Here is a quiet park near Culver City thats a worth a trip. There are some amazing views from the top of the park. I would have included the view of Downtown Los Angeles, but the smog was so bad, you couldn’t even see the buildings. On a clear day, you can see the whole city from up
here.
Entrance to Kenneth Hahn State Park
Kenneth “Kenny” Frederick Hahn (August 19, 1920â1997) was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for forty years from 1952 to 1992. Prior to his election, Hahn served on the Los Angeles City Council. He was an ardent supporter of civil rights throughout the 1960s, and became greatly respected in the African-American community of Los Angeles. The park was a failed water reservoir and Hahn a city councilman at the time, convinced the mayor to use the land as a park. The area was also used as the site of the first Olympic Village during the 1932 Olympics hosted in Los Angeles.
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Tags: Image Gallery · LA Backdrop
May 15th, 2008 Written by: Gary · 1 Comment
One thing I often hear when friends from out of town come to visit is, ‘Where can we see the stars at?” or the usual complaining of, “I didn’t get to see any stars!” So I decided that from now on, I would make sure that all of my out of town visitors get to see stars. I now take them to the Hollywood Forever cemetery. Its full of stars and worth a visit if you are bored, or like me, have nagging friends who want to see them.
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Tags: Image Gallery · Local LA
April 15th, 2008 Written by: Gary · No Comments
This past weekend I traveled to Watts Towers which is located in Watts. Watts is a community that hugs the outer edges of Los Angeles. Created by an Italian Immigrant named Simon Rodia, the Towers are an amazing work of art. Rodia worked more than 20+ years on the towers and used everything from plates, seashells, broken glass, old coffee mugs, wire and pretty much anything he could get his hands on. Its amazing that one man could do all of this. Did he have help?
After the tour was over, I was taken to the museum next door and shown a video. The video was made in 1954 and shows Simon working on the unfinished towers. he talks about how everyday he would come home from his job as a tile setter and work on the towers. he stated that” I would have hired someone to help me, but I didn’t have any money.” Rodia is among several untrained artists I have run across in my travels. All of these men have created amazing works of art using recycled materials Simon stated that” I wanted to do something big and I did.”
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Tags: Local LA · art
March 17th, 2008 Written by: Gary · 3 Comments
The J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles, California.
Delusions of Grandeur
I decided to check out the Getty Center not too long ago, and found it to be incredible. After parking, I took the little tram up the side of the mountain to the top. The tram gives one a nice view while slowly ascending the hillside.
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Tags: Image Gallery · Museums · art
February 15th, 2008 Written by: Gary · No Comments
“I’m not sure why they named it Hyperion.”-Nancy Carr, Public Relations. I had made it a point to actually look up the word earlier that day for my own satisfaction.
Greek Mythology A Titan, the son of Gaea and Uranus and the father of Helios.
Here is a place you might not think to visit, but people do visit this place, so much in fact, that the plant has a full time tour guide and public relations department. (tours are given daily). Constructed in the late 1800’s and completely restructured in 1998, Hyperion pulls in 350 million gallons of sewage a day via 6500 miles of sewer line from the Los Angeles area. it is one of the largest plants of its kind in the United States. Even Hollywood came calling. Aside from housing the “Sewage of the Stars”, The plant has been in several movies and TV shows: Spider man I, Logan’s Run, The X files, Starship Enterprise, even the latest Energizer Bunny commercial to name a few.
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Tags: Image Gallery · LA Backdrop
