Critique Welcomed A Blog - COTiP (Cleaning Out The iPhone)
- Thread starter Gary Ayala
- Start date
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
COTiP (not in chronological order) - SoCal is on fire. Whipped up and fed by 100 mph gusts of wind, three large fires are consuming LA County. The Palisades Fire has engulfed 1,000+ buildings. The Eaton fire has caused mass evacuations in the northern portion of Pasadena. (Dunno much about the fire in Sylmar.) None of these fires have any percentage of containment. These were snapped on my way home from work.
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Rob MacKillop
Edinburgh Correspondent
Scary! I hope your home is untouched by the flames.
Gianluca Drago
Well-Known Member
I had read the news about the fires, but your direct testimony makes it much more real and frightening, Gary.
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
I live approximately 20 miles southeast of Los Angeles on the border of LA County and Orange County. I feel we are extremely safe.
But ... We are experiencing unusually strong 'windstorms' coming off the deserts. These are annual experiences, we call them Santa Ana Winds (other places, similar winds are called Chinooks or Scirocco winds, et al). But this year they are extremely strong in force and size. Fire Fighters drove all night from other parts of California to fight the fires. Crews from neighboring Arizona and other states are arriving. In anticipation of the Santa Ana's fire fighting equipment has be prepositioned in vulnerable areas. But ... I don't think any amount of equipment or personnel can stand up to 100mph winds.
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Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
Last night the flames jumped to the Hollywood Hills and is now threatening the Hollywood Bowl and even Hollywood ... Hollywood and Vine. All the studios have shut down.
Gianluca Drago
Well-Known Member
Sadly, I know... I was just now reading updates on the situation in online newspapers. What a disaster and what a tragedy for so many people.
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
The Palisades Fire has reached the Pacific. The Getty Villa was spared. The Villa is a museum of Roman antiquities. The fire came up to the Villa's grounds but was beaten back from structures. The Villa is an extremely charming museum based upon an old Roman villa (Cesar's father-in-law's villa if memory serves me correctly). It is a stones throw from the beach.
Two days ago, the mandatory evacuation of Pacific Palisades (a very upscale community of Los Angeles), created gridlock of the few exiting roads. (The Palisades rises out of the Pacific with cliffs, steep hillsides with arroyos/canyons/ravines. It is extremely picturesque but because of the terrain there are few ways in/out.) The evacuating people ended up abandoning their cars/vehicles where they were parked in the streets and walked to greater safety. The roads were impassable for fire fighting and emergency medical vehicles. Bulldozers were called in to cleared the roads and the cars blocking were bulldozed to the side. (Not just a few cars, but what I understand 30+ were tossed to curbs. There are videos online of a bulldozer clearing the way at Sunset Blvd. and Pacific Coast Highway.
A few shots of the Getty Villa exterior. I was challenged to shoot the Villa with only one lens ... I chose the Lensbaby.:
(These are not iPhone generated.)
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Canon 5D w/ 50mm Lensbaby
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Canon 5D w/ 50mm Lensbaby
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Canon 5D w/ 50mm Lensbaby
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Canon 5D w/ 50mm Lensbaby
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Canon 5D w/ 50mm Lensbaby
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Canon 5D w/ 50mm Lensbaby
Two days ago, the mandatory evacuation of Pacific Palisades (a very upscale community of Los Angeles), created gridlock of the few exiting roads. (The Palisades rises out of the Pacific with cliffs, steep hillsides with arroyos/canyons/ravines. It is extremely picturesque but because of the terrain there are few ways in/out.) The evacuating people ended up abandoning their cars/vehicles where they were parked in the streets and walked to greater safety. The roads were impassable for fire fighting and emergency medical vehicles. Bulldozers were called in to cleared the roads and the cars blocking were bulldozed to the side. (Not just a few cars, but what I understand 30+ were tossed to curbs. There are videos online of a bulldozer clearing the way at Sunset Blvd. and Pacific Coast Highway.
A few shots of the Getty Villa exterior. I was challenged to shoot the Villa with only one lens ... I chose the Lensbaby.:
(These are not iPhone generated.)
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Canon 5D w/ 50mm Lensbaby
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Canon 5D w/ 50mm Lensbaby
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Canon 5D w/ 50mm Lensbaby
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Canon 5D w/ 50mm Lensbaby
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Canon 5D w/ 50mm Lensbaby
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Canon 5D w/ 50mm Lensbaby
Gianluca Drago
Well-Known Member
A dramatic situation!
And an interesting gallery of photos, Gary.
And an interesting gallery of photos, Gary.
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
I thought you people on RPF would like the lack of definition produced by the LensBaby.
Good news ... the fire threatening Hollywood and the Hollywood Bowl has been contained. The fire would have easily reduced Hollywood to rubble ... past Hollywood Blvd ... the Stars Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater, et cetera.
Playboy Jazz Festival
Panasonic GFI w/ Lumix 14mm
The Hollywood Bowl is in an arroyo in the Hollywood Hills. In the middle of the 11 million people which live in LA County, the Hollywood Bowl stands by itself. No freeways, no buildings, no commerce ... nada ... the Bowl is all about the music and nothing else. The brush and trees of the hills run up to and encompass the bowl. The Bowl, arguably one of the finest outdoor theatre's in the world, is saved.
Pink Martini
Fuji X100S w/ 23mm
To punctuate my statement of "the Bowl is all about the music and nothing else", it is the bowl and nothing else but the darkness of the Hollywood Hills.
Gianluca Drago
Well-Known Member
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
Palisades & Eaton Fire Update:
1) Deaths: Six people have been accounted for as dead from both the Palisades and Eaton fires (so far - but considering the magnitude and swiftness of the fire - a low count).
2) Destroyed Structures: 9,000+ of which 6,000 were homes.
3) Burnt Acreage: 33,600+.
4) Cost of Damage: $52B - $57B (per AccuWeather). Experts say the Palisade's fire alone may be the costliest fire in American history.
5) Percent of Containment: 0%
6) Evacuations: 130,000
There are four additional fires burning in LA County. The most significant is the Eaton fire by Pasadena which has "torn" through 10,000+ acres and also has 0% containment.
(I have a number of friends who have been forced to evacuate. I'm taking this painfully.)
1) Deaths: Six people have been accounted for as dead from both the Palisades and Eaton fires (so far - but considering the magnitude and swiftness of the fire - a low count).
2) Destroyed Structures: 9,000+ of which 6,000 were homes.
3) Burnt Acreage: 33,600+.
4) Cost of Damage: $52B - $57B (per AccuWeather). Experts say the Palisade's fire alone may be the costliest fire in American history.
5) Percent of Containment: 0%
6) Evacuations: 130,000
There are four additional fires burning in LA County. The most significant is the Eaton fire by Pasadena which has "torn" through 10,000+ acres and also has 0% containment.
(I have a number of friends who have been forced to evacuate. I'm taking this painfully.)
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Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
Yesterday, we discovered quite a few bees drinking up at one of the bird baths. We've never had so many bees at one time slurping up water. I am assuming the high winds may have destroyed the bees' hive and/or destroyed the flowers where they normally forage. Thinking they may be low on energy ... and with darkness fast approaching ... I whipped up some 'Bee Nectar' and deposited it in the bird bath. The bees were gone by morning. I hope the nectar took them through the night.
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While messing with the bees we discovered a Swallowtail chrysalis hanging from. the bird bath.
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iPhone
Yesterday, it seems everybody in LA County received an Emergency Evacuation Notice on their phones. This raised the eyebrows of millions of people. Fortunately, a few minutes later a notice went out to ignore the warning. Officials apologized this morning for the mis-message.
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iPhone
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While messing with the bees we discovered a Swallowtail chrysalis hanging from. the bird bath.
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iPhone
Yesterday, it seems everybody in LA County received an Emergency Evacuation Notice on their phones. This raised the eyebrows of millions of people. Fortunately, a few minutes later a notice went out to ignore the warning. Officials apologized this morning for the mis-message.
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Gianluca Drago
Well-Known Member
Thank you for the updates, Gary. I'm following the developments.
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
The word got out ... Gary's place has the best eats.
iPhone
At least as many bees which are feasting and toasting in the container lid ... are swarming around the bird bath. Tonight, Gary will move the Bee Nectar away from the house/patio. I don't have a problem with the bees ... but on weekends people and their dogs come over for morning coffee and a swam of bees five feet from their cups would be deemed a bit uncomfortable.
iPhone
At least as many bees which are feasting and toasting in the container lid ... are swarming around the bird bath. Tonight, Gary will move the Bee Nectar away from the house/patio. I don't have a problem with the bees ... but on weekends people and their dogs come over for morning coffee and a swam of bees five feet from their cups would be deemed a bit uncomfortable.
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
Thank you Gianluca. The winds are beginning to lessen and subside today and will continue to diminish throughout the weekend. Monday, the winds return but not as strong.
This is a nightmare, experienced and witnessed in-person, by millions of Angelenos. For many ... for the tens of thousands who lost their homes and all of their material goods, jobs and businesses ... they may never wake up from this nightmare.
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Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
Morning Coffee:
iPhone
The fires continue to grow. There is some containment, 8% for the Palisades (along the coast-Malibu), 8% for the Eaton (Pasadena), 100% for the Sunset (Hollywood), Hurst Fire (80% contained), Kenneth Fire, Archer Fire, Lidia Fire no idea on containment. The fire fighters are armed with portable pumps and are utilizing swimming pool water to save homes. (The pool is literally saving the home.)
(image pinched from the internet)
Most wild fires are in 'wild/natural' areas with little to no structures. These wild fires are in the city. LA has only received .08mm of rainfall since July 2024. We are in the California 'Wet Season', October through April, with no rain yet ... nor in the foreseeable future.
The American west, California in particular, has a Chaparral ecosystem in the semi-arid areas.This ecosystem is based on fire as an undeniable element of the ecosystem. California's Chaparral/Brush which covers natural hillsides in LA is designed to burn. The woody brush contains terpenes a highly flammable oil along with resins, fats and high energy waxes. I have seen hillsides seemingly explode under perfect conditions as we have now. California Sequoias, world's largest trees, will only germinate after fire. The brush DNA allows for Stump Sprouting ... after a fire passes the remaining stumps will sprout and grow again.
Because California's ecosystem's DNA acknowledges fire and is designed to live with/survive fire ... because fire is an annual part of California ... California has one of, if not the best fire fighting management systems in the world. But no amount of fire fighting personnel, fire fighting equipment can fight a fire with 50+ years of Chaparral fuel and 100 kph winds (160 kph).
Yes, this catastrophe has many human components ... climate change (no rain in the rainy season), building into chaparral covered steep terrain, installing fire water system design for fighting urban fires in an area of natural/wild habitats. It is still catastrophic by any measurement.
iPhone
The fires continue to grow. There is some containment, 8% for the Palisades (along the coast-Malibu), 8% for the Eaton (Pasadena), 100% for the Sunset (Hollywood), Hurst Fire (80% contained), Kenneth Fire, Archer Fire, Lidia Fire no idea on containment. The fire fighters are armed with portable pumps and are utilizing swimming pool water to save homes. (The pool is literally saving the home.)
(image pinched from the internet)
Most wild fires are in 'wild/natural' areas with little to no structures. These wild fires are in the city. LA has only received .08mm of rainfall since July 2024. We are in the California 'Wet Season', October through April, with no rain yet ... nor in the foreseeable future.
The American west, California in particular, has a Chaparral ecosystem in the semi-arid areas.This ecosystem is based on fire as an undeniable element of the ecosystem. California's Chaparral/Brush which covers natural hillsides in LA is designed to burn. The woody brush contains terpenes a highly flammable oil along with resins, fats and high energy waxes. I have seen hillsides seemingly explode under perfect conditions as we have now. California Sequoias, world's largest trees, will only germinate after fire. The brush DNA allows for Stump Sprouting ... after a fire passes the remaining stumps will sprout and grow again.
Because California's ecosystem's DNA acknowledges fire and is designed to live with/survive fire ... because fire is an annual part of California ... California has one of, if not the best fire fighting management systems in the world. But no amount of fire fighting personnel, fire fighting equipment can fight a fire with 50+ years of Chaparral fuel and 100 kph winds (160 kph).
Yes, this catastrophe has many human components ... climate change (no rain in the rainy season), building into chaparral covered steep terrain, installing fire water system design for fighting urban fires in an area of natural/wild habitats. It is still catastrophic by any measurement.
Gianluca Drago
Well-Known Member
As far as I can tell, you have summed up the situation very well from a scientific point of view. In many parts of Italy we have similar vegetation and climatic conditions, where fire is part of the natural renewal of these habitats, but as you say, man plays a decisive role in aggravating the situation.
Gianluca Drago
Well-Known Member
The image of The Getty Villa besieged by fire is shocking. I have not seen pictures of Sunset Boulevard, I know that the house where David Lynch lives has been evacuated. For the sequoias, I am sad.
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
Yes, coastal California has a Mediterranean climate. Visiting Italy, I felt very much at home.