As a new user, I am just wondering if the regional groups are actually clubs with meetings and such; kind of like a car club. with a monthly meeting, newsletter, etc.

If not, what do you all think about such an idea? There are probably enough of us in the L.A. area to get something together every now and then.

2F/2F

Ya it would be nice to be able to collaborate with other photographers.

Here in New England we get together on an informal basis. If someone has a place to photograph they would like to share with others they post a date, time & place in the Regional forums. All it takes is for one person to have the fortitude to get the ball rolling. I like to think that we have made some very good friends up here in Noo Ingland!! :D

gene

Yup, the New England crew is pretty good with that. I miss that. :) I wish there were more of us in western PA to meet up.

2F/2F,

There are number of us LF / ULF users in the LA area that get together occasionally. Hugo Zhang puts on the Chamonix Shoot-Outs every once in a while so keep an eye out for them. The last was about a month ago in Orange County where we did a morning of figure shooting. If you want to get something going with the "big camera people", just put a notice proposing a time/place and we'll start coming out of the woodwork. You can also check out things over on the Large Format Forum as well. Even if you don't shoot Large Format, you're still welcome - maybe we can covert you.

That's great that you guys are open to us smaller format people. I actually really want to learn LF so I would jump at the chance to tag along even if I'm only using my 645. I hope to make the plunge soon enough, it's just a matter of finding a reasonable set up that's not too expensive starting out...

I'll keep in eye out for you guys.

-DP

As a new user, I am just wondering if the regional groups are actually clubs with meetings and such; kind of like a car club. with a monthly meeting, newsletter, etc.

If not, what do you all think about such an idea? There are probably enough of us in the L.A. area to get something together every now and then.

2F/2F

Not to offend anyone but this is an observation of mine, being a native Los Angelino and traveled the country and lived in other places it seems that southern Californians are something like peaches. Sweet on the outside but a tough nut to crack on the inside. On the surface Californians appear to be friendly but standoffish when put to the test. There's even a bit of that in me, since we are the products of our surroundings, so no offense to the rest of you's, okay? I don't want to be shot on the freeway again! ;)

I've noticed that people who live in lands where there is very severe weather (northern mid-west as an example, Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas) build very strong social ties to their neighbors even if they are not very similar in terms of personality traits. In Des Moines Iowa as an example, one can stand on their rear porch and see their neighbors rear yard and their street beyond and some houses on the opposite side of that street and beyond. Contrast that with Californians who build walls tall enough to prevent neighbors from seeing their beautifully landscaped million dollar homes. Another test of social habits would be to watch what goes on inside of elevators. In Des Moines Iowa, perfect strangers strike up conversations as they ascend or descend skycraper elevators, and it is so normal nobody gives it a second thought. In Los Angeles, people are usually looking off into never-never-land or the floor or their shoes or the sign with lighted floor numbers above the door. And.. If you try to strike up a conversation with them they look at you with deep suspicious eyes while their hands rummage inside their bags doing the braille search for the can of pepper spray or mace.

Sad?

Well, hope that didn't anger too many people. Having said all of that, I've moved away from the southern part of Southern California. I'm living in San Luis Obispo now. Technically this is central coast. We tend to talk to each other more freely up here. In many ways this is heaven, figuratively and literally. The weather here is much better than Des Moines Iowa, and the people are very courteous, like Des Moines. They are also very even keeled and while green they haven't lost their free enterprise capitalistic roots and overall sense of value. One big test of a community is to watch how the drivers on the roads treat bicyclists (I bike to work, and I feel safe doing that even though there are some really bad spots on some of the roads that tend to favor automobiles, I will blame that part on CalTrans and the government who would rather send soldiers to foreign land to bomb and destroy infrastructure among other bad things, rather than build roads which would truely set us up a few notches higher than Mexico).

Glad you have found your place. I love SLO. My family has been in the same part of NE L.A. (Highland Park) for six generations. We are certainly glad any time someone moves OUT of L.A! :D One less car in my way.

L.A. is the place to live if you want to be private, for sure, but it is plenty social and friendly if you seek it out. I never lock my car, and rarely even roll the windows up. I talk to strangers every day. The social behavior does not just happen here; you have to put some effort into it. It won't hit you in the face every day like other big cities, but if you want it, it is there. This all comes down to geography, which I believe does more than anything else to shape a culture. This sort of social interaction is not as necessary as it is in tighter cities. Another thing is that skin is very thin here, so it often backfires when you are social or emotive. Weird place, but by far the best place I've been. The diversity of the people and geography can't be beat. I have lived in white America, and it made me love L.A. even more.

IMO, the worst thing about L.A. BY FAR is how early everything closes, and the low number of decent vegetarian restaurants. I am a night owl and a vegetarian, so this makes it rough to spend my free evenings anywhere but at home!

Wait 'till I get out there next year (ya right Art, you said that this year). We'll create our own SoCal hood.

Regards, Art.

I am certainly not about to waste my time, with my finger up my ass, associating with a bunch of cretins that have nothing better to do than talk about photography or camera equipment or look at pictures. No not me. As long as I have my finger up my ass I will be spreading joy through out this mortal vessel by putting Preparation H where it will do the most good. I know that many of youse are wise and asstoot enough to believe that I should be using said ointment lingually.

Glad you have found your place. I love SLO. My family has been in the same part of NE L.A. (Highland Park) for six generations. We are certainly glad any time someone moves OUT of L.A! :D One less car in my way.

L.A. is the place to live if you want to be private, for sure, but it is plenty social and friendly if you seek it out. I never lock my car, and rarely even roll the windows up. I talk to strangers every day. The social behavior does not just happen here; you have to put some effort into it. It won't hit you in the face every day like other big cities, but if you want it, it is there. This all comes down to geography, which I believe does more than anything else to shape a culture. This sort of social interaction is not as necessary as it is in tighter cities. Another thing is that skin is very thin here, so it often backfires when you are social or emotive. Weird place, but by far the best place I've been. The diversity of the people and geography can't be beat. I have lived in white America, and it made me love L.A. even more.

IMO, the worst thing about L.A. BY FAR is how early everything closes, and the low number of decent vegetarian restaurants. I am a night owl and a vegetarian, so this makes it rough to spend my free evenings anywhere but at home!

Have you tried "Vegan Glory" near the Beverly Center? Delicious Thai vegan food... I digress...

Most people bash L.A., and I miss it....and I only moved 130 miles south to San Diego!!! Most of the photographic community in L.A. centers around commercial work, universities, galleries, etc. It's a competitive but very open environment. AND no one blinks an eyelash when they see cameras around town...sorta' normal, actually. Add to that the availability of photo supplies and equipment (Freestyle, Samy's, Calumet...all have stores in L.A.).

I have to laugh when someone plans a trip to So. Calif. and everyone bashes L.A. There is so much to photograph that it's hard to put the camera down. Just spend a day downtown.

As for meeting people from APUG, a lot of us have already met...one way or another. Per Volquartz's workshops, various conferences, etc. Do we meet up regularly? Probably not...but if you wanted to start something up, I'm sure other Angeleno's would jump in.

S

I love SLO.

Well, you're formally invited to come on up for a weekend trip sometime. We'll go shoot some film in some natural setting if you like. Montana de Oro perhaps. Or up the coast from San Simeon. Or, somewhere deep in the Los Padres National Forest. There is an abundance of beauty up here if you're into that sort of thing.

Oh, and having been a vegetarian for more than 5 years at a time, I know how to cook very tasty vegetarian dishes.

As a new user, I am just wondering if the regional groups are actually clubs with meetings and such; kind of like a car club. with a monthly meeting, newsletter, etc.

If not, what do you all think about such an idea? There are probably enough of us in the L.A. area to get something together every now and then.

2F/2F

I used to live in Glendale when I worked at Disney. Now I live in Phoenix, but I look for any excuse to get out to LA on a weekend. I've read some of your posts and I know you shoot old Canon FD gear. Maybe we could get together some time and have dueling FTb's!

Not to offend anyone but this is an observation of mine, being a native Los Angelino and traveled the country and lived in other places it seems that southern Californians are something like peaches. Sweet on the outside but a tough nut to crack on the inside. On the surface Californians appear to be friendly but standoffish when put to the test. There's even a bit of that in me, since we are the products of our surroundings, so no offense to the rest of you's, okay? I don't want to be shot on the freeway again! ;)

I've noticed that people who live in lands where there is very severe weather (northern mid-west as an example, Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas) build very strong social ties to their neighbors even if they are not very similar in terms of personality traits. In Des Moines Iowa as an example, one can stand on their rear porch and see their neighbors rear yard and their street beyond and some houses on the opposite side of that street and beyond. Contrast that with Californians who build walls tall enough to prevent neighbors from seeing their beautifully landscaped million dollar homes. Another test of social habits would be to watch what goes on inside of elevators. In Des Moines Iowa, perfect strangers strike up conversations as they ascend or descend skycraper elevators, and it is so normal nobody gives it a second thought. In Los Angeles, people are usually looking off into never-never-land or the floor or their shoes or the sign with lighted floor numbers above the door. And.. If you try to strike up a conversation with them they look at you with deep suspicious eyes while their hands rummage inside their bags doing the braille search for the can of pepper spray or mace.

Sad?

Well, hope that didn't anger too many people. Having said all of that, I've moved away from the southern part of Southern California. I'm living in San Luis Obispo now. Technically this is central coast. We tend to talk to each other more freely up here. In many ways this is heaven, figuratively and literally. The weather here is much better than Des Moines Iowa, and the people are very courteous, like Des Moines. They are also very even keeled and while green they haven't lost their free enterprise capitalistic roots and overall sense of value. One big test of a community is to watch how the drivers on the roads treat bicyclists (I bike to work, and I feel safe doing that even though there are some really bad spots on some of the roads that tend to favor automobiles, I will blame that part on CalTrans and the government who would rather send soldiers to foreign land to bomb and destroy infrastructure among other bad things, rather than build roads which would truely set us up a few notches higher than Mexico).


Well, your comments didn't evoke any anger in me. I'm a native LA county person, having been born in Whittier in 1960. Being a world traveler, I have to say that a lot of your observations of LA are very typical of other large cities all over the world. You'll see the same "tough nuts" in Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Madrid, Sofia, Moscow, Munich, to name a few, and to varying degrees, more or less city/country depending.

That is how it is. I don't see it in terms of good or bad, happy or sad. It just is. Big city dynamics. I worked in Des Moines back in 1993, consulting at the Maytag plant in a berg called Newton, so I know what you mean when you describe the nice and genuine folk there.