Last month, photographer Derek Bourassa visited the Point Vicente Lighthouse in Palos Verdes. He enjoyed it so much, he could not wait to return with his wife.

When he did, the view certainly did not disappoint. "The evening this photo was made the golden color of the sun was just amazing, as was the sky," Bourassa said. "I wanted to record this moment and be able to look at from time to time."

The image was taken with a Canon 7D.

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For the Record

6:40 p.m. Aug. 1: An earlier version of this post and its headline misspelled Point Vicente as Vincente.

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Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our Flickr page or tag your photos with #socalmoments on Instagram and Twitter. Follow us on Twitter or visit latimes.com/socalmoments for more on this photo series.

Hannah Kayleen MacKenzie and a friend were wandering the Hollywood Hills on a pictureseque Spring day in April.

They stumbled upon the empy lot of a home that had just been torn down to make room for a new development, and as a result were serendipitously treated to this view of downtown Los Angeles.

"I was compelled to take the shot when I saw how the surrounding greenery perfectly framed the city," she said. "It was begging to be shared."

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Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our Flickr page or tag your photos with #socalmoments on Instagram and Twitter. Follow us on Twitter or visit latimes.com/socalmoments for more on this photo series

A couple weeks ago, Sierra Fox was helping her sister with some work in downtown’s Fashion District.  As a photographer, she’d always been curious as to whether she could manage an “eye-level” shot of the building across the street-- its architecture always seeming to catch her attention.

On this particular day, the light was casting a beautiful shadow across half the structure.

“I loved how each window told a story about whoever lived there. One person’s window was wide open with plants along the windowsill versus another’s curtains were shut but were bright red and purple,” said Fox. “Those little details gave me a hint into their lives.”

The image was taken with an iPhone 5S. 

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Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our Flickr page or tag your photos with #socalmoments on Instagram and Twitter. Follow us on Twitter or visit latimes.com/socalmoments for more on this photo series...

While roaming the streets of downtown Los Angeles, photographer John Kayacan wandered down a staircase next to a escalator and noticed the light and shadows made for the "perfect background."

He waited patiently for the next person’s descent before he captured this image with his Fujifilm x20.

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Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our Flickr page or tag your photos with #socalmoments on Instagram and Twitter. Follow us on Twitter or visit latimes.com/socalmoments for more on this photo series.

The fun thing about having cellphones with cameras is the ability to spontaneously take photos, should the occasion arise. 

Photographer Howard Fang had such a moment, where he ran into two separate deer herds within minutes of each other.

"I first encountered these three young bucks in Sierra Madre at a busy intersection," wrote Fang in an email. After he followed the first herd, Fang ran into the second herd, snapping photos there, before deciding to head back. "I started to leave the area, and that's when I ran into the three earlier bucks again. I took out my iPhone and snapped a whole bunch of photos to put on my blog."

"What's interesting was how casual they appeared, not afraid of human presence or cars, like, 'Yeah, I live here!'"

Fang took this photo with an iPhone 5S.

Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our  Flickr page  or tag your photos with #socalmoments  on Instagram and Twitter.  Follow us on Twitter...

Hanging out with friends can often lead to a perfect moment, one that is best when it's caught on camera. Photographer Lizette Carrasco was with a friend in downtown Los Angeles when she snapped this photo.

"The sunlight and architecture in the background was just so amazing that I just had to capture it with my friend Josh in it," Carrasco wrote in an email.

The image was taken with a Canon 60D, using a 35mm f/1.4 Sigma lens.

Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our Flickr page or tag your photos with #socalmoments on Instagram and Twitter. Follow us on Twitter or visit latimes.com/socalmoments for more on this photo series.

Los Angeles is known for its television shows and movies, but it's also a literary town. Bookworms can be found everywhere, in all corners of bookstores, cafes and ... bars. Just as commonly seen around town are photographers, and when great lighting is thrown into the mix, a beautiful photo can appear.

Photographer Joséphine Runneboom and a friend were downtown taking photos of Handsome Coffee Roasters when the two took a detour to Tony's Saloon afterward.

"My friend and I ended up roaming around the area a bit afterwards, as we are wont to do, and stopped for a drink at Tony's Saloon, one of the greatest bars in the Arts District," Runneboom wrote in an email. "It was still somewhat early and I really liked the way the light was hitting this young man reading a book at the end of the bar, so I had to snap a quick photo."

Runneboom took this photo with a Canon 7D.

Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our  Flickr page or tag...

When you're tired, you're tired.

Photographer Norman Schwartz happened upon this scene while walking through Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles, early on a Saturday morning.

"The park was quiet with few persons lying on the grass or benches," wrote Schwartz in an email. "None seemed as much at rest as the subject of my photo. His serene appearance beckoned passersby to join him on the concrete platform and share his moments of peace, oblivious to any of life's hardships."

Schwartz took this photo with a Nikon D800.

Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our Flickr page or tag your photos with #socalmoments on Instagram and Twitter. Follow us on Twitter or visit latimes.com/socalmoments for more on this photo series.

When you're trying to take a photograph, intrusions aren't always welcome. While there are people out there who see a photographer and duck out of the way, there are also those who make no effort to dodge and instead offer up cheeky poses without being asked.

If you're good, you'll know when to let the intrusions happen, and then something fun can take place.

Johanna Siegmann is an architecture photographer who likes to shoot interesting buildings. She was out at the Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts in downtown Los Angeles setting up her camera when a teenager rode across the frame just as Siegmann took the photo.

"He stopped and grinned, and asked, 'Did I get in your shot?' To which I answered, 'Did you want to?'" wrote Siegmann in an email.

"Well, of course he did, and I invited him to try something fun. This was what he did. It was the first shot I took intentionally with him in it. We did a few more, but this was the best."

Siegmann took this photo with a...

Once a year, young musical prodigies who attend The Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles get to perform with a full orchestra.

Photographer Armineh Hovanesian went to this year's performance on June 29 because her friend's son was playing the piano and guitar. 

Hovanesian took a photograph of the show in the school's Zipper Hall with her iPhone 5S.

Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our Flickr page or tag your photos with #socalmoments on Instagram and Twitter. Follow us on Twitter or visit latimes.com/socalmoments for more on this photo series.

When I was a student, one of my photography professors challenged our class to carry a camera everywhere for a week. This was long before our tiny mobile devices could take quality photographs, and so I rolled my eyes at the thought of lugging around my DSLR.

He promised us that by simply having the camera in our possession at all times, we would instinctively start to see the world differently. We’d pay attention and recognize opportunities in ways we hadn’t before. “This will become habit,” he said.

I remembered this simple yet important lesson as I scoured June's SoCal Moments. Several of the images from last month were referred to as “stumbled upon” or “a lucky shot.” Perhaps our readers may have actually been looking -- whether they realized it or not -- for these elusive and understated moments.

There’s Suzanne Danziger’s subtle shot of people's shadows against the travertine blocks at the Getty Center, and Howard Fang’s image of ice cream lamps hanging at the L.A. Farmers Market...

With graduation from UCLA around the corner, Edgar Ortiz and a friend traveled to the beach in early June to break from the busyness.

The pair started in Malibu, walked a couple of miles south and found themselves on the Santa Monica Pier in front of an "End of the Trail" sign that marks the end to the legendary American highway Route 66.

Ortiz had seen pictures of the sign before, but wanted to capture an image of his own with his iPhone 5S to post to his Instagram account.

"Since I got an Instagram account, I have been motivated to go out more and explore L.A. and capture moments of this wonderful city," he said. 

Ortiz graduated from UCLA on June 13 with an anthropology major and is volunteering for AmeriCorps at Jefferson Middle School in Boyle Heights. 

Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our  Flickr page  or tag your photos with # socalmoments on  Instagram  and Twitter.  Follow us on Twitter  or visit  latimes .com/...