Diversions : Pretty as a Picture : Tours Focus on the More Unusual and Photogenic Sides of the Southland

Picture this: Instead of viewing the famed Hollywood sign from afar, you’re opposite it on adjacent Mt. Hollywood, with the rays of the setting sun shining on the 50-foot-high white letters. After a picnic dinner, you finish the gentle hike to Mt. Hollywood’s summit.

Below lies the Griffith Observatory awash with floodlights, the downtown Los Angeles skyline, and the red and white lights of cars streaking along the freeways. As the stars come out, a coyote appears, silhouetted against the full moon.

Or perhaps your preference runs more toward a musical outing. Then how about a concert by a blues trio at a scenic Southern California winery, complete with complimentary wine-tasting?

Whichever outing you choose, be sure to bring a camera and plenty of film because these aren’t garden-variety tours. Rather, these excursions view Los Angeles and environs exclusively through the camera’s eye.

“There are many photo opportunities other than the tourist spots in Los Angeles,” says Nadine Orabona, a professional photographer who began her Photo Walks tours three years ago.

Both Orabona--who offers the Mt. Hollywood trip periodically--and Dawn Hope Stevens of the Clickers & Flickers Photo Network regularly conduct the photo tours.

“Some are surprising to people,” says Orabona. Angelenos who take downtown for granted can be amazed at its photo possibilities. Many are unaware of places such as Brea, with its numerous, gigantic sculptures--mandated by a city policy that calls for anyone building an industrial complex to also put up a work of art.

Orabona also conducts tours that take a different look at the natural side of Los Angeles, including fall foliage. “There’s a place in the local mountains that is cold enough and high enough so that the maple trees really do turn red,” she says.

Whatever the theme and itinerary, Orabona’s outings are informal affairs, usually limited to 10 people and adapted to the interests of each group. Orabona gives photo tips throughout, paying extra attention to beginners. An interest in photography is not always a prerequisite.

The July 14 tour, called “The Future City,” covers the newer section of Los Angeles with its skyscrapers, fountains, pools and waterfalls. “We’ll play around with filters, especially bicolor ones--the reflecting skyscrapers can look interesting with two colors,” Orabona says. “We’ll try to create modern, futuristic images of the downtown area.”

The July 21 tour visits the Huntington Library’s Botanical Gardens in San Marino for a “Back to Basics” course. The tour, which is just in time for the blooming of the sacred lotus, emphasizes photo composition using such elements as statues, lighting and Desert Garden patterns.

A travel photography junket takes place Aug. 10. The tour begins at Union Station to capture people in motion, then continues to Olvera Street, Chinatown and the Vietnamese section of Los Angeles. The Aug. 24 trip returns to Chinatown, this time after dark to cover night-time special effects shooting with filters, zooms, and long and double exposures.

“The Best of the Zoo” on Sept. 14 dispenses tips on making zoo photos look as though they were snapped in the wild, anticipating animal behavior, and photographing through glass and wire. The next trip to the Mt. Hollywood summit, which allows a leisurely two hours each way for the 1.4-mile hike and draws as many as 40 people, is scheduled for Sept. 22. “I can’t guarantee the coyote,” Orabona says. “But he’s been there the last three times.”

Credit Dawn Hope Stevens’ uneasiness in underground parking structures for the creation of Clickers & Flickers in 1985.

Stevens, then a legal secretary, was taking nighttime photography classes at UCLA Extension. After class, she would rush out to her car and make a hasty exit to avoid any potentially dangerous late-night encounters.

“I realized I was never meeting anyone that way, that I wanted to know people,” she says. So, she came up with the idea of buying a van and organizing trips for fellow photographers.

When insurance rates became prohibitive about two years later, Stevens sold the van; now participants car-pool to the sites. She also offers bimonthly dinners in Marina del Rey, where members and non-members can show their work and hear guest speakers.

Like Photo Walks, the Clickers & Flickers expeditions are casual and flexible. But “I don’t teach photography,” says Stevens, who now works for the vice president and general counsel of a record company(fittingly, she often photographs blues musicians).

“I get people together. Then they’ll pair off, or maybe go on their own. These do become informal photography lessons. Everyone shares information, everyone learns: Where’s a good place to buy film? Where’s a good photo lab? You’ve just walked by a place but someone else set up a tripod there--what’s he taking?”

Often on the agenda are parades, such as last month’s Summer Solstice Parade in Santa Barbara, the Nisei Week Parade Aug. 11 in Little Tokyo and Pasadena’s Doo Dah Parade in November. Seasonal treks have included photographing Independence Day fireworks, visiting Bakersfield pumpkin farms and a scarecrow contest in October, and documenting Halloween in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills Christmas lights. Last month, Stevens led a tour of San Pedro’s Ports O’Call Village and Cabrillo Marine Museum, capped by a grunion run at the new moon.

On tap this month is Saturday’s visit to the Vega Vineyard in Santa Ynez to hear fiddler Papa John Creach of Jefferson Airplane fame and singer-musician Harmonica Fats, backed by the blues band of guitarist/Santa Monica disc jockey Bernie Pearl. The trip includes a picnic lunch and wine-tasting, plus a wine glass to take home (there must be one designated driver per carload).

The dinner July 24 features guest Thom Harrop, editorial director of Darkroom Photography, speaking about the role of photography as art. There will be a one-day workshop on July 27 conducted by stock photographer’s representative Sandra Kinsler, who will discuss the calendar, greeting card and stock photography markets.

There is an overnight trip to the Channel Islands Aug. 17-18. Leaving by boat from Ventura, participants stay at the ranch house at the Scorpion Ranch. Sights include a blacksmith’s shop and barn, other old buildings, farm implements, landscapes and such wildlife as feral sheep, wild pigs, horses, foxes and birds.

“On one of our trips to Santa Cruz,” Stevens recalls with pride, “we had a man who was the valet of a good friend of President Bush. He’d traveled all over the world, and he said he ranked this well up there among the 100 best days of his life.”

For more information, call Nadine Orabona at (213) 660-0473 and Dawn Hope Stevens at (818) 794-7447.

Photo Tours Here’s a sampling of photo tours offered in Southern California:

* Photo Cooperative: Noella Ballenger and Jalien Tulley teach a daylong garden photography course at the Arboretum four times annually and conduct workshops in Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Lompoc and Bodie. The next trip is to Bodie, Sept. 20-22; $125 for workshop only. Transportation, lodging, food extra. (818) 954-0933.

* Picture This: San Diego-based photographer Carol Leigh conducts tours in San Diego and Orange counties and occasionally in Los Angeles. Next trip: A daylong workshop on July 13 in Ports O’Call; $20-$50 depending on how many sessions attended. (800) 924-0124 in L.A. and Orange counties, (619) 234-5223 in San Diego.

* UCLA Extension: Occasional field workshops. Landscape photo workshop at Mammoth Lakes, July 25-28; $355 covers tuition and four meals. (213) 206-8503; ask for Gretchen Matsumoto.

* USC Adventure Photography: Some local excursions, such as viewing Santa Monica Mountains wildflowers, but mainly guided field trips and camping throughout scenic California and the Southwest. Sequoia and Kings Canyon national park camping August 16-18; $60. (213) 743-7084; ask for Dave Wyman.

* The Next Stage: Marlene Gordon offers occasional photo trips to scenic and cultural spots. July 28: Train trip to Santa Barbara; $65 per person. (213) 939-2688.

* Images With Feelings: Photographer Al Moran leads daylong and multiday trips to places like Catalina, Calico, Solvang and the Sierras. Most are sold out, but call for next year’s listings. (800) 530-0076.