Santa Monica Mountain

Lately, I've been learning how to build a house out of Styrofoam. Got your attention? Actually, it's form of foam called ICF (insulated concrete form), interlocking, hollow blocks that feel like Styrofoam and once constructed into a house, are filled with concrete. Makes a pretty sturdy abode, I can tell you.

The project I'm working on is in the Santa Monica Mountains above Malibu and every (early) morning, I'm treated to incredible ocean air, coastal light and all sorts of other phenomena. Here are some recent shots as I was winding the hill to the job site.

Rindge Dam

My intrepid canyoneering friends and I took a trip through Rindge Gulch, a vegetation-choked canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains more or less above Malibu. Following some nice rappels, among the highlights was the more or less historic Rindge Dam that was, according to Wikipedia and other sources, built by the Rindge family in 1924-1926 for flood control on Malibu Creek. By 1950, it had filled up with silt and has been pretty much nonfunctional since. These days, it is part of Malibu Creek State Park and was recently pronounced off-limits for reasons of safety. Oh, well, scofflaws that we are, we had no other way of getting back to our cars but to exit the canyon via the dam. Even in the harsh, crappy light at the time, the structure is interesting to look at and hike by. This is a pano stitched together from eight vertical shots.

Stoned Sunset

Trust me, I'm not going to get all elitist and apologize for taking a picture of a sunset. Like a lot of photographers, I can't resist them. But I wouldn't show the whole world the shot unless it had a nice feel to it. And I liked this grab shot from the night before up in the Santa Monica Mountains. Just two guys smoking a joint and watching the sun go down.