Santa Monica Pier At Night
Most locals try to avoid locations where they know tourist will be at. It’s bad enough that traffic is horrible in Southern California, but it’s even worse in the areas where tourists go.
Most of the time, these places are full just during the day. At night, there aren’t as many people, granted most places can still be busy, but not as much as it is during the day.
The pier is an exception though. This place is always packed no matter the day, time or weather. It’s kind of cool this way though. It makes it fun to people watch.
Lin wanted to get away for a night so Stoner and I decided to go with her wherever she wanted. Since both of them hadn’t been to the pier in a few years, we all agreed to go at night.
I figured I could get some dope photos and videos while we chilled and walked around. There isn’t much to do here, and unless you’re planning to eat or play in the arcade, the only thing you can do is walk and enjoy the beach, which is exactly what all 3 of us did.
It was a really dark night, and the pier was strangely not as busy as we were expecting. We parked outside of the pier and walked through the Santa Monica Pier sign. I wanted to take a photo of it. It didn’t come out great, I needed a tripod for it.
Walking down the bridge, I took a time lapse of PCH. I love this shot. I’ve taken it several times through the years at various times.
This was the only nice photo I had taken so far. There wasn’t anything cool to shoot. The north side of the beach was pretty lackluster. Because of the mist from the water, lights had a glow to them and the light hitting the water on the north side was really horrible.
Once we got to the little amusement park, Stoner and Lin sat down and enjoyed the beach and the weather. I began to take photos and video of the light from the pier illuminating the beach. I was surprised at how good the video coming out of the camera was. I shot at ISO 2,500 and felt I could have pushed it even further. I loved the photos and videos.
We continued walking to the end of the pier and then walked back. Since one of the entrance is still closed, we walked down through the pedestrian entrance at the edge of the pier. It was finally opened again.
Stoner and Lin were not sure if they wanted to walk through the sand and go to the water. In the end they decided not too. I took a nice photo of the red Hot Dog on a Stick building.
We walked up the pier and that's when I saw the old carrousel building. I had taken a photo of it about 15 years ago with my old point and shoot. I took 2 photos of it trying to recreate the image as best as I remembered.
I wanted to compare how much the technologies have advanced. I knew even the iPhone would take a better image of the building than my old Canon SD600, but it still seamed interesting to me.
That gave me an idea, at some point in the spring, I’m going to come back and recreate some photos that I took years ago with my Canon SD600. Maybe I’ll buy the camera again and see if I can take a better image now. I think with a tripod, I can definitely get a better image, but with all the knowledge I know now about photography, I’m curious to see how much of a better image I can actually produce.
After I took the photos we headed up the bridge again. There were a lot more people walking though these streets than there was in the pier, that was kind of strange.
Either way, it was a cold night in winter. It was well worth the 30 minute drive through LA just to come and enjoy the beach at night. We are truly spoiled.
