In focus: staff photos from Aug. 17 - 23

Kylen Garcia, 10, left, Katie Torrez, 11, and Samantha Dingee, 10, jump over waves while playing on the shoreline at Hermosa Beach.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

With his pickup truck loaded, Ignacio Lujano looks at some of the tools he used to care for trees for the last 38 years in San Juan Capistrano. His new home in Lake Elsinore has one small tree, but he plans to plant more: “lemon, peach, orange; maybe something like that.” (See related story.)  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Elvis Ardon, 17, clips sunflowers at North Hollywood High, where students cultivate plants and collect seedlings to jump-start other gardens. The Los Angeles Unified School District has more than 500 plots, but budget woes will likely prompt the district to cut the program. (See related story.)  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Andre Ethier of the Dodgers is greeted by a mob of teammates at home plate Sunday at Dodger Stadium following his walk-off, two-run homer in the ninth inning to beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-5, and leave Los Angeles tied, if only briefly, with the Arizona Diamonbacks for first place in the National League West division.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Austin Raishbrook, left, and his twin brother, Howard, at the scene of a fire call in South Los Angeles in May. They are freelance videographers cruising the greater Los Angeles area for breaking news at night. (See related story.)  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Santa Ana Police Sgt. Lorenzo Carrillo and other officers talk with Armando Martinez, who wasn’t cited. By late Wednesday, 38 people had been arrested in a gang-suppression effort centered on an area near the Santa Ana Civic Center.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Miner Joe Gonzalez celebrates after emerging from a hole as the digging of a 4-mile tunnel in the San Bernardino Mountains is completed. The tunnel is part of the Metropolitan Water District’s Inland Feeder Project, which will speed the delivery of imported water to the Southland.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Pedestrians walk along Melrose Avenue between Fairfax and La Brea avenues, where a rash of robberies has been reported recently. No one has been hurt in the holdups, but police are concerned that the robbers could escalate their violence.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Graham Oyoung, 18, let, and Andrew Butt, 21, move into their dorm at USC on Wednesday. An increasing number of college students are being told to arrive on campus as late as January or February, however. (See related story.)  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)