WHAT THE CAMERA SAW / THE WEEK AND MORE

Shadows. Images. Illusions. What’s real? What isn’t? When optical sensations catch us off guard, sometimes we have to do a double take. Above, past and present intersect as two employees at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills stand in front of the cast bronze sculpture “La Promenade,” depicting a turn-of-the-century couple, by American artist J. Seward Johnson. (The piece is modeled after the Gustave Caillebotte painting “Paris Street, Rainy Day.”) At left, maintenance worker Carlo Ponce seems to disappear into a cloud of vapor as he steam-cleans a sidewalk in downtown Ventura. And at right, this clown near Olvera Street strikes an appealing image that will long remain with this child.

Poetry in Motion

In the fog, these football players from Westchester High School look like “Swan Lake” dancers as they warm up before a game in Pacific Palisades. Above, a couple glide across the floor at the Hollywood Colonnade at a movie premiere party.

Twist and Shout

Twisting, tumbling, rolling--with no parents around to ground you for playing in the dirt, no master to scold you for plopping in the middle of a room. Now that’s pure bliss. At left, Brandon Ritchie, 13, Andy Schutz, 14, and Derrick Manning, 13, rock ‘n’ roll atop a 10-foot emergency berm constructed to hold the anticipated El Nin~o at bay from seaside Seal Beach homes. Above, Sunny proves it is a dog’s life. Oblivious to the surrounding culture, the pooch rolls and twists into a pretzel at the Margo Leavin Gallery in West Hollywood.

Romance Language

Love to love ya, baby. Yep, that’s the King of Romance, Larry King, above left, who seems to miss his target with new bride Shawn Southwick, outside Mann’s Chinese theater in Hollywood. Above, Catalina Velicu kicks back with Sam Primero at the Venice Beach boardwalk. And at left, Jacob Montiel and Laura Rodriguez cozy up while waiting for the bus along Broadway in downtown L.A.