Playing on Venice Beach

The boys are running around the house like crazy: no amount of books, puzzles and crayon drawings will do the trick.

We drive out to Venice Beach where I'm to meet a new friend, fellow Brit and photographer, Dawn. We've been emailing about many things such as how to set a pricing strategy and ensuring the fulfillment of orders, never mind the giddy excitement of playing with our toys and discussing travel photography - our former loves. I'm a Chartered Marketer by profession and it's time to put in practice.

The boys take to her so well and with the 70-200mm they provide easy targets. I was warned not to try it, and now I cannot help but be in lust with it. Oh, you wicked, wicked beast! The Big Big Fella lent to Dawn actually belongs to a friend whom I met 20 years ago, having been at London Uni with her brother, fashion photographer, Heidi, now our mutual friend. In the days when I shot in film, I seemed only to ever own huge telephoto lenses. Guess I must have been a little better off in the 90s than I am now.

We hang out at the play area on the beach, then the Venice Graffiti Wall and I know I'll have to return here on another day, as now the day is nearing its end, and, as we watch the sun swiftly dive below the Pacific, in this city which receives so little twilight, it starts to get a little cool (well, for LA that is).

Sending this to Dawn in the hope she'll see the light and want to join Blip too. I'm so looking forward to seeing what spills out of our cameras from today and with just a sneak peak behind me, I'm excited.

Photo credit: Dawn, Editing: Catherine - played around with this so much. In colour, the reflection in the lens is quite stunning as is the light, but eventually settled on this b/w version. Thanks Dawn! You did great...