So the last week has seen me fly 16,000km around the world. I exchanged the then-wet Cape Town shores for the now-sunny LA shores. Did I mention its sunny here? All the time. All. The. Time. It seems to be the norm that one needs a fireman suit for general outdoor activities. OK, perhaps I exaggerate a tad.

Coming to America has been something on my to-do list for several years now. As creative souls, we need travel to keep our fire burning. Being isolated in one space can creatively kill us. No, in fact, it does creatively kill us. So doing things like traveling from Cape Town to Los Angeles & New York is probably the best thing to invest back into our careers. It may take some money yes, however, as the old saying goes, “travel is the one of the few things you can spend money on to make you richer”. I always feel so fired up & motivated after travel, which lasts well over a year sometimes! This fire keeps me going through all the opposition & rubbish that gets thrown at us.

Since arriving I’ve managed to see quite a bit. I’ve gone down & “experienced” Venice Beach with all it’s crazy folks. There was such a massive variety of artists selling their wares. Most of them perhaps falling into the alternate lifestyle category. ie: engraved skulls, dream catchers, hippie medicinal items. I did however support an ink artist who created very cool ink splatter art that made up an image obviously. I dig it. I bought a Yoda one & a Japanese tree scene.

I then met up with my mate Steve Demmit who took me for a drive out to Malibu & beyond. We headed up to a point called Magu Point which is this awesome lookout over the Californian coast line. We stopped, shot some plates for later use & just saw how close we could get to the cliff edges. This was also the day I had my first Taco Bell. Most American’s cringed when they heard this, providing reasons why I might find myself either incapacitated with stomach problems. I can say I’ve safely lived to tell the tale.

That evening, a bunch of photographers based in LA all met up to have “Steve’s going away thing”. It also ended up being “Seagram’s welcome to America thing”. I’ve heard a lot about Korean BBQ in Korea Town. For those back at home in Cape Town that have ever been to a restaurant called Galbi (just off Long Street), this is almost the same. It’s a buffet meat BBQ that involves all kinds of meat cuts (shaved slives, pork medallions, etc) that gets grilled on a massive hot plate in the centre of your table. For $20 this is a pretty cheap meal. I ate until I couldn’t move. Probably the largest meal I’ve had since arriving in LA. I’d love to see something like this come to SA. Definitely a group activity for 4+.

On one of the first evenings after I arrived in LA, I was invited to go see a concert at The Hollywood Bowl. Oddly enough, out of all the things I remember from coming to the USA when I was a kid (6 years old) I remember the Hollywood Bowl. Not entirely sure why, as we didn’t come to a concert or anything the first time. This evening however, we watched the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra perform Mendelssohn’s 3rd Violin Concerto. It was the most spectacular evening for this open air concert, paired with a great bottle of wine, cracker snacks & cheese. A bit of culture went a long way in settling my mind after the extensive travel.

So that pretty much wraps up my social activities here in LA so far. I’ll be sure to post some more blogs about what I’ve been up to as things go. I’ll be able to share some work related news soon. Still working out the specifics.

I hope everyone back in South Africa is having a fantastic time still!

Here are a few more shots to fill the blanks. :)

– Chuck Norris was probably my favourite.

– The Grove open air shopping centre. With a tram that goes a whole 200m. Novelties.

– Random LA street stuff

– Almost all Hollywood streets have massive palms.

– The most variety of cars I’ve ever seen. From this, to, THAT.

– Ever wonder what the North Pole looks like? Yeah, this is some of it.

– Magu Point, California. Above Malibu

– Messing around on the cliff edges of Magu Point

– Didn’t take long to attend my first red carpet event! :D

– Thats me. Checking things out. And kinda missing home a tad.

– More Californian coastline