The last leg on my southern California road trip was a visit to the Los Angeles Temple. I had never been there, but I had no trouble finding it. It's right on Santa Monica Blvd., not far from the 405 Freeway. As if that wasn't easy enough, I stayed right across the street and was able to walk back and forth.
     The front lawn is huge and I easily found a spot I liked. I usually try to check with the groundskeepers to find out when the sprinklers come on, so I don't end up getting soaked along with all my gear. I was told several times that "Bishop Felix" was the man I needed to talk to. My friend and neighbor back home is also Bishop Felix (Liahona II Ward), so I called him and asked if he was moonlighting and racking up frequent flier miles. It turned out that his wife had been in the other Bishop Felix's ward years ago. When I finally met the original Bishop Felix we had a great time talking and sorting out the coincidences. He's a wonderful man and shared some tender feelings about "his" Temple. He also assured me they had gotten so much rain recently that the sprinklers were turned off and wouldn't pose a threat.
     I knew the Temple faced southeast - perfect for what I had planned. I wanted to shoot an oblique view from the south, with the sun setting and rising almost perpendicular to the camera. While the lawn is huge and unobstructed, it's also a big hillside. Shooting a subject so tall and so high up taxed the limits of the perspective controls on the big camera. I made a few snapshots with the digital and had to do some straightening in Photoshop. As I've mentioned in other posts, when I remember to shoot a few frames with the digital camera, it's while I'm waiting for the light to get good or after I've finished with the big camera. With its super high quality, the big camera always has priority.
     Here are a few images from the digital camera. This one is taken a little while after the sun has set. There is a little glow in the western sky and the Temple lights have just come on.



     This one is from a bit later. The sky is a little darker and the lights from the Temple appear unnaturally warm as a result of me not adjusting the white balance on the camera.



     A nice warm sunrise. Unfortunately, no clouds to liven up the sky in any of these.