Off the beaten path Los Angeles: The Watts Towers

When traveling, I've found my journeys can be significantly enriched by going beyond the usual “top attractions” list found in tour books. Visiting locations and people “off the beaten path” can often tell us much about the area and its history and people. The Watts Towers of Simon Rodia is such a place in Los Angeles.

Would I advise first time visitors to LA to skip the Getty Museum, LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), the La Brea Tar Pits, the Huntingdon Library and Botanical Gardens, a stroll down Rodeo Drive, the Sony Pictures Studio Tour, and other iconic Los Angeles sights, on a first time visit to Los Angeles? No. They're top attractions for good reason.

Yet there are wonderful sights in Los Angeles beyond its “top attractions.”

Photography Exhibition: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Bruce Davidson - East 100th Street

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, periodically has terrific photographic exhibitions. Bruce Davidson – East 100th Street is definitely such an exhibit.

This exhibition will run through September 8, 2013

Photo Equipment Backpacks Part IV: My Favorite Backpacks

In Part I, of the Photo Equipment Backpack series, I discussed making sure the backpack was properly fitted to ensure the gear inside could be carried comfortably.

In Part II of the series, I discussed the competing needs of in-transit and shooting backpacks, and why those needs have prevented “cross-over” backpack design success, to date.

In Part III of the series I discussed how to ensure photo backpacks will have the required capacity, and what features are essential in quality photo backpacks.

In this conclusion of the Photo Equipment Backpack series, I'll discuss my five favorite backpacks, and why I like them, as well as explain why one of these backpacks is likely the precursor to a truly workable “cross-over” backpack, able to handle both in-transit and shooting uses.

Photography Exhibition: The Getty Museum - In Focus: Robert Mapplethorpe

The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California, regularly has extraordinary photographic exhibitions. In Focus: Robert Mapplethorpe is no exception.

This exhibition will run through March 24, 2013

“A tastemaker and provocateur, Robert Mapplethorpe was one of the great photographers of the second half of the twentieth century. His highly stylized explorations of gender, race, and sexuality became hallmarks of the period and exerted a powerful influence on his contemporaries.