The Getty Center and Robin McGraw

If you’re visiting L.A. you have to hit up The Getty Center, a big time museum that has its own hillside with a sprawling, scenic campus and various buildings that house exhibitions on each floor. It’s huge. And free, so go.

Here we are at one of the most visited museums in the U.S. – 1.3 million visitors annually to be specific.

Perfectly manicured gardens line the base of the campus. It was too chilly to explore, another time perhaps.

It’s located up on a cliff side, you have to park below and take a tram straight up to get there. It’s positioned purposefully for a sweeping 180° view of L.A. The grounds and view are all part of the experience.

I liked the sculpture and anything Neo Classical. These two especially lit my fire.

I’m slowly getting the hang of our new camera. It still out-smarts me at times and I think we’re ready for some new lenses, but we’re getting a lot of practice seeing things in unique ways. I like that about photography.

I liked us reflected in this mirror in one of the French parlor rooms. The lightly speckled glass gave a hazy effect.

So this is funny.. we went to The Polo Lounge which is inside the Beverly Hills Hotel after The Getty and as we were just getting ready to split Mrs. Dr. Phil herself, Robin McGraw sat right by us.

First, a quick story. About 5 years ago in Vegas, Carrot Top wandered past us in a bar with his cool-guy entourage and we all freaked out a little bit. It’s not that we’re just a bunch of ravenous Carrot Top fans whose dreams were coming true, it’s just weird when famous (or even semi-famous) people are breathing your same air. Once again, you’d think Robin was Tom Cruise the way I reacted. This flush of red hot excitement came over me and I *had* to get a pic. I couldn’t bear the shame of snapping an obvious pic so I did my signature move: pretending to talk on the phone and/or check my voice mail while secretly taking a picture. Here’s how it works – I set up my phone to where it’s on camera mode and hold it to my ear that’s facing her while I make listening faces and snap away until I feel I’ve gotten something viable. The outtakes consist of; blur, Mike’s head, the wait staff, and more blur. This was the money shot. Enjoy.

Back to the beach and another beautiful sunset. I’m learning that the sun doesn’t always have to be in the middle of the shot. Something less eye catching but just as beautiful might surprise you if given a chance, like this sprawling sky.

We’re down to our last week here in Cali, so I’m heading out to explore.

For more information on the Getty you’ll find its site HERE

Comments

Jewelry Style Beauty says

February 22, 2011 at 5:06 PM

Ahh I love that you get all flustered, too! I never tire of star sightings in LA!! I drive my girlfriend who lives there crazy!!! Hee hee!! Maybe you and I need to go together and perfect our on the downlow photo snapping skills! 🙂 I give you props! You did a good job!