La Jolla Light Article: Nick Agelidis’s New Book – “La Jolla: A Photographic Journey”

Picture Perfect: Photographer captures essence of La Jolla’s people, places in new book

By Pat Sherman                 Click HERE to purchase this book

If you prefer, you can read this article HERE on La Jolla Light’s website

A stunning nighttime view of the La Jolla coastline and Village through the lens of Nick Agelidis. Photos by Nick Agelidis

By Pat Sherman

An image of the Pacific spitting skyward as a wave crashes dramatically into La Jolla’s craggy coast; a couple quietly sitting on a bench, gazing out at an orange and purple sunset; runners dressed in monkey and banana suits taking part in the La Jolla Half Marathon.

Photographer Nick Agelidis is a new La Jolla Historical Society board member.

Engineer-turned-photographer Nick Agelidis has transformed his love affair with La Jolla into a picture book showcasing the Village’s awe-inspiring beauty, historic landmarks, architecture and endearing community spirit.

“La Jolla: A Photographic Journey” (Sunbelt Publications, $21.95) is available at Warwick’s bookstore in La Jolla, and includes a jacket accolade from La Jolla Historical Society Executive Director Heath Fox, who refers to it as “an extraordinary photographic journal of contemporary La Jolla.”

Armed with a Nikon D600 camera, Agelidis set out to shoot in the coastal breeze shortly after he and wife, Lamya, moved to La Jolla two years ago, settling in the Village.

“Initially, I just started taking photos for my own pleasure, just as a way of documenting my own surroundings,” he said. “I started to think there may be something more here. I looked around and I really didn’t find a photography book of La Jolla, per se.”

The photographs were amassed over the span of a year, said Agelidis, who holds a doctorate in structural engineering and formerly worked for Ford and Nissan. “I think for something like this, where you’re trying to capture different seasons and environmental conditions, it’s almost a requirement,” he said.

One of the first images Agelidis captured for the book was of a channel carved into the bluff at Hospitals Beach, taken early morning as the clouds were just beginning to break.

One imagines the ghosts of days gone by holding court in the quiet hours at Harry’s Coffee Shop.

“It started to rain, I took cover, and once it cleared I was about to go home,” Agelidis recalled. “I said, ‘let me just wander down to the beach again.’ … In the whole time I’ve been here I’ve never had that combination of the lighting, sun and all the green algae. Sometimes (the elements) just come together and they’re hard to capture again.”

Some of the photographs were taken upon first exploration, such as a hurried, “pure chance” shot of nearly 30 pelicans flying in formation above a breaking wave. For other shots, Agelidis returned to the scene repeatedly to get the lighting just right.

One image features a couple viewed from behind as they stand at the end of the walkway in Sunny Jim’s Cave. As they peer out through the cave’s opening at a sundrenched La Jolla Cove, the striking combination of light and color reflected on the cave walls behind them is among nature’s finest artistry.

“You see the shadows the railing is casting and then you’ve got the light from outside that’s really picking up the texture of the rocks and cobwebs,” said Agelidis, a native of Melbourne, Australia. “The view that they’re looking at is actually what’s on the facing page.”

A fissure in the rocky shore at Hospitals Beach in La Jolla.

Sandwiched between scenes of children and adults enjoying the La Jolla Art and Wine Festival, Concours d’Elegance auto show or Haute La Jolla Nights music events, are serene nighttime scenes of the patio at Harry’s Coffees Shop and dramatically backlit detail from one of the Village’s iconic seahorse benches.

“I tried to vary the shots as much as I could … looking for something a little different, a little quirky maybe — and kind of moody as well,” explained Agelidis, who hopes to follow up his first commercially published book with others documenting his world travels, including sojourns in China and Italy.

“My preference is travel photography, but La Jolla is so breathtaking that, even while at home, I feel like I’m on vacation every day,” he writes in the preface to his book.

Although he has lived in Europe and once entertained spending his retirement there, he and his wife returned to visit La Jolla one more time, sealing the deal.

“It’s is a great combination of being in the U.S. but in a town with a European feel to it,” he told La Jolla Light. “That just seemed to check all the boxes for us, and we certainly haven’t regretted it.”

Tour of California cycling

As I mentioned yesterday, this was shaping up to be a busy weekend. Today I made it out to the first stage of the Tour of California, which set off from Escondido and did a 100 mile loop that included Mt Palomar. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this area, Escondido is about 30 miles from where I live, and I have driven out there several times to do a part of the ride they were doing today.

I was there for the start and then drove out to see them coming up the last climb of the day (but that meant I couldn’t be at the finish). It was a blast to be there, and to take photos, of course. Here’s a sample – the start, some expensive hardware on a team car, the two race leaders at the last climb, and a couple of the peleton. For the cycling fans among you, I also included shots of Peter Sagan and Andy Schleck (two of the international stars for the rest of you) during the pre-race announcements

Getting ready for China

In a few days I’m off to China, this time with Lamya and two other couples. This is a two and a half week trip that will have us bouncing all over China – with five internal flights and two half-day road trips, we have once again tried to cram a lot in. Still, when will be back in China? We start off in Beijing, then travel to Datong, Pingyao, Xian, Lijang, Dali, Guillin and Shanghai.

Obviously, I am really looking forward to the photography, but I expect this will be different to Italy in a lot of ways.

The light in Italy was fantastic – even when overcast and stormy, the air was clear and the light was warm. I’m expecting very different conditions in China – at least in the cities. Smog can be a real disappointment when you have hopes of brightly light, colorful scenes. But what it means is that you need to adjust to the conditions and focus on different kinds of photos – close-ups, maybe black and white, etc.

In Italy I was on my own and could modify my itinerary to get the shots I wanted. It’s the difference between taking the best photos you can at the time you happen to be there, as opposed to making sure you’re there at the best time to take photos. If I push the photography priority too much in China, I’ll probably be hitchhiking. However, I do plan to get up early in the morning before everyone else and then also wander off on my own in the evenings to shoot at night. I guess I’ll be the guy snoring in the back of the van during the day.

As far as equipment, it’s virtually identical to what I took to Italy, and described in an earlier blog. I was pretty happy with it and used everything in the bag at least once.

So, yes, my photography might be a bit more constrained, but that will be more than made up for by having good friends along. And you don’t want to eat in Chinese restaurants alone, where sampling tons of different dishes is the best part.

I’m not sure that I’ll get much time to blog along the way (based on the shooting schedule described above) but I will try to post some photos soon after we get back. (I might leave the blogging to others in the party.)

Why I like making photography books

I just finished a photography book from my recent trip to Italy – a collection of about 230 images, and as many pages, distilled from the 4000+ photos I took. It reinforced in my mind something I already knew – that I really enjoy putting books together. But what is it about books rather than individual images that I find appealing?

First of all, a book is not a collection of individual images, but of two page spreads. The left and right pages are viewed together and offer an opportunity to express something more than the individual images that are contained. I usually try to unite the images either thematically or visually through the shapes, colors, subjects or ideas they contain. This is not always possible, but it is so rewarding when it comes off. Images can also be selected to highlight the irony or humor in a situation, or maybe just because they look good together.

There are many occasions when I will include a photo that I didn’t rate very highly initially, just because it seems to fit well into the spread, and it takes on a whole new life in that context. Also, pairing images may often highlight a shortcoming in one of them, and cause me to continue to edit and improve it. I am forever making small tweaks right up until the end, and I think I have ended up improving many images to create a more consistent level within a book.

Here are a few two page spreads from my Italy book – not the best individual images, but ones where I think the combination is better than the individual parts.

The images in a book are also presented in a certain sequence that the reader is encouraged to follow. This can bring some order or flow to a diverse collection of photographs and make them more accessible and less haphazard to navigate. This was definitely a consideration when assembling the Italy photos.
Size is important and bigger is not necessarily better. Not all photos deserve to be the same size. A simple photo could look perfect as a small accent on a title page, but very weak as a full-page image. A vast panorama may look great as a full bleed (no margins) on a two page spread, but a delicate artistic detail may look best as a smaller image with a wide border. These options are lost when images end up in an online gallery.

Working within the layout of the page sometimes creates shape constraints that provide an additional challenge. However, this also can offer a new perspective on an existing photo and has often caused me to see an image in a totally new light. I have frequently ended up preferring the crop that I made to fit into a particular layout over the one I had in mind when I took the shot.

Finally, creating a book provides a whole other series of creative decisions related to graphic design, such as the layout, font selection, cover design, etc. I enjoy photography for the creative opportunities it provides, and this experience is prolonged and enhanced by continuing to work on the book long after the original photos were taken.

Most of the characteristics of a “book” endure even if it is viewed online, rather than as a physical object, although there is something special about holding the actual book, and turning the pages. The preview mode of the print on demand publisher I use (Blurb) even has a shadow down the center spine and realistically turning pages to try to mimic the real thing, and depending on the size and quality of your screen the experience can be excellent.

More restoration work!

One of the disappointments for a tourist and photographer is to arrive at a famous site and find it cloaked in scaffolding and canvas under restoration. Why couldn’t they wait till next week to work on this?

There are basically three ways to deal with this problem: (a) pretend it isn’t there and take the same shot you would have anyway; (b) frame your shots to minimize or eliminate it; (c) try to make it a key element of the composition.

I don’t like option (a) too much, but often you have no other alternative, at least as a record of the scene. Option (b) can work well in many situations, and may force you focus on details that might otherwise have been ignored; if done well the viewer may not even be aware that it was necessary to crop so tightly. Depending on the situation, option (c) can be interesting; here are a couple from the Duomo in Milan, with restoration work going on both inside and outsde.

The image of workers descending the scaffolding after working on the stained glass at Milan’s Duomo is one I would never have expected.

And while we’re in Milan, there’s also a shot of some scaffolding around the upper tower of the Duomo and one of the interior of the Galleria Victorio Emanuele for good measure.

What to shoot when there’s so much to choose?

There were so many photogenic sights in Italy that it was often tough to decide what to shoot – especially during the limited golden hours around sunrise and sunset. But with so much to choose from, I was often surprised to see groups of photographers with serious cameras and heavy tripods lined up and just waiting for half an hour for exactly the right moment to capture one particular iconic image, such as the setting sunlight on the tower in the Piazza del Campo in Siena. I guess they wanted to make sure that they nailed that photo – pretty much like everyone else around them; but in the meantime they ignored many other opportunities presenting themselves all around the piazza.

Here’s the classic shot that most people got (mine is definitely not as good – for one thing, the “ideal” vantage points were already taken).

But here are a few others I took while most people were waiting for the main one. Maybe the other photographers were there for the week and would be taking other photos on another evening, but I doubt it.

Anyway, my point is that it’s a challenge not to be overwhelmed by the dominant image, and to continue to look for other interesting subjects. I don’t claim to be good at this, but it is something I keep telling myself to try to do. I’m sure there were hundreds more than the ones I found.

No photos allowed!

I’ve talked a bit about photographers’ frustrations, but one of the most annoying has got to be the “No Photos Allowed” sign. I can accept this in some of the most sensitive locations, such as Scrovegni Chapel (where you have to wait 20 minutes to be “dehumidified” while watching an interesting video, before being allowed into the chapel itself to view the Giotto frescos). And I completely understand and support the no flash policy at most locations. However, in many places it seems like it’s just a way to try to encourage you to by the guide book or postcards if you want to have a visual reminder. A lot of churches had a no photo policy, but didn’t seem too bothered, others were much stricter in its application.

The most frustrating for me was the Accademia in Florence, which houses Michelangelo’s David. Now, I wasn’t particularly keen to get a photo of David, but by some fortunate timing, I was the first one in the museum and for a couple of minutes I was the only person in the room with David (who normally is surrounded by a crowd 20 deep). Well, I was the only visitor that is – there were also three museum guards to make sure no photos were taken. It would have been nice to have recorded the rare event of being there just with David, and for a minute I debated asking one of the guards to take a picture of the two of us, but in the end I thought it was pointless.

Here’s a photo of the line waiting to get into see David as I was leaving. There is a replica of David in the Piazza della Signoria, which has been photographed a million times. When I was there, he was casting quite a distinctive shadow, which I thought was an interesting alternative.

Below are a few photos I managed to sneak at other less heavily policed “no photo” locations, which have now made me a fugitive in the eyes of the Italian criminal system. I may have to ask Silvio B. for advice on how to evade justice. (I never did get an invitation to one of his parties.)

The first is one of many monk’s cells in the Convento di San Marco in Florence with frescoes by Fra Angelico; the second is one of the long corridors in the main floor of the Uffizi gallery that houses masterpieces of Italian art; the floor below is relegated to “Artists from other countries” and is much less visited – the third photo is from an empty room with four lonely but well known Rembrandts peering out from the wall; the fourth is the ceiling of the Scuola San Rocco in Venice, also known as “Tintoretto’s Sistine Chapel”. They’re not great photos, but I took them in a rebellious mood – especially given the fairly hefty entrance fees I had to pay for each one.

Italian clouds are beautiful

I used to think that the landscapes that Italian artists painted were overdone. The clouds in particular seemed to have had the Baroque equivalent of a Photoshop color saturation enhancement. Well I’m here to report that those beautiful clouds are real. Not only does Tuscany have some of the most beautiful countryside anywhere, even the clouds are gorgeous.

The weather while I was there was varied, often cloudy and sometimes rainy, which made for some great lighting and sunsets.

Here are a few from Montepulciano.

It’s just not fair for the rest of the world.

Back from Italy photography trip

Wow, what a trip!

I had intentions of posting periodically to my blog and including photos along the way, but I failed miserably – mainly because I was really busy.

Since the purpose of the trip was photography, I tailored everything accordingly. That meant getting up really early (often before sunrise) and shooting well after sunset – the best times for photos. The long days of summer sound great for a traveller, but I realized that for a photographer it means getting up at 5 (or earlier) and photographing till 10 at night. Often that was when I would have dinner and then go back to the hotel to crash before getting up the next morning. Luckily, I hit the ground running with no signs of jet lag – up till midnight on the first night and slept soundly till 7 the next morning.

Also, for a traveller the weather wasn’t perfect – several days of storms or clouds; but for a photographer it was terrific, with lots of different lighting opportunities.

So now I’m back, with about 4,800 images to work through. Clearly there’s a lot of average stuff in there, but hopefully, just by the laws of probability there must be a few keepers. (That’s more than twice as many as I took during a similar length trip to India a few years ago; but I’ve heard of wedding photographers that take that meany in a day, which I find hard to believe.)

I did a lot of research before I left, planning a very full and detailed itinerary, and I’m glad I did. I got a lot more done, and I could also rearrange things quickly on the fly when I needed to. When I first got the idea for this trip it was going to be an opportunity to cycle in some iconic locations, and to take photographs, in about equal measure. But as I planned it out, I realized that photography was taking prominence. In the end, I didn’t take my own bike, and instead rented a nice racing bike for a few days while in Tuscany. That was a great decision: I had three fantastic rides in some of the prettiest landscapes that exist, but for the rest of the time I could concentrate on the camera, without having the hassle of lugging the bike around.

Looking back, I asked myself what was the highlight, and also the luckiest occurrence? Both were in Venice. I had researched that on one of the days I would be there the moon would be setting just before sunrise in the direction of San Marco Piazza, promising some interesting images. So I got up at 4:30 to catch it. As it turned out, the moonset wasn’t all that impressive, but being in Venice when nobody else was around was amazing. Having all of San Marco or the Rialto Bridge to oneself was surreal, especially when a few hours later they would be absolutely packed. There were some early bird tourists out taking photos at 8, and I just wanted to go tell them that I was there three and a half hours earlier!

Also during the two nights I was in Venice (and this I missed during my pre-trip research) there was a high tide, which flooded San Marco Piazza and surrounding areas. The minor inconvenience of having to remove shoes and socks to wade back to the hotel was more than compensated by some incredible photos. I’ll share lots more photos in future posts, but here are a few from Venice to get started.

In retrospect, I’m not sure I would have changed much if I had the opportunity.

If you’re really interested here’s how I spent the 17 days.

Day 1: Arrive in Milan; drive to Bellagio; boat on Lake Como to Varenna and back; drive to Bergamo; night photos.

Day 2: Morning photos in Bergamo; drive to Milan; afternoon/evening photos in Milan; back to Bergamo.

Day 3: Drive to Verona; drive to Vicenza; see end of Giro d’Italia stage 21; drive to Padua.

Day 4: Morning in Padua; drive to Venice.

Day 5: Venice.

Day 6: Morning in Venice; drive to Ravenna; drive to Montepulciano.

Day 7: Ride; drive to Montalcino for photos and dinner; back to Montepulciano.

Day 8: Drive to Orvietto for photos and lunch; drive back to Montepulciano; ride.

Day 9: Drive to Siena; late afternoon drive to San Gimignano.

Day 10: Photos around countryside; ride; return bike to Siena; evening photos in Siena; back to San Gimignano.

Day 11: Morning in San Gimignano; drive to Florence.

Day 12: Florence.

Day 13: Morning in Florence; drive to Lucca.

Day 14: Drive to La Spezia; train to Manarola (Cinque Terre); hiking.

Day 15: Hiking and trains in Cinque Terre.

Day 16: Drive to Portofino; drive to Pavia; drive to Milan (Malpensa)

Day 17: Return to US

(Hour-by-hour Excel spreadsheet available upon request)

Loading up for Italy – what’s in my bag

I got my wide angle zoom lens back from the repair shop yesterday – it looks as good as new and you’d never guess it had been through a nasty encounter with the pavement. Also, assembled a few odds and ends to take with me, so I’m (photographically) ready to go.

In case you’re interested, here’s what I’ll be taking with me to Italy next week – at least in my camera bag:

Nikon D600 Body
24-85 mm f 3.5-4.5 wide angle zoom (the one that’s usually on the camera)
70-300 mm f4.5-5.6 telephoto zoom (which I use about 25% of the time)
50 mm f1.8 (for low light and shallow depth of field)
SB 700 speedlight
Collapsible 22” reflector (optional, but it’s so light)
Collapsible 8”x12” soft box (ditto)
Polarizing filter for the wide angle zoom
Neutral grey card (for setting white balance in unusual lighting conditions)
Proline lightweight travel tripod (looking forward to some evening and night shots)
Remote cable release (minimize camera shake)
3 camera batteries
8 AA batteries for flash (4 in use plus 4 spare)
200+ GB of SD cards (don’t want to delete anything till I get back home)
Acer Aspire One netbook (for daily backups and staying connected)
Multiple chargers (not shown)
Black foam for shaping light from flash
Cleaning supplies
Small flash light
Nikon messenger bag with heavy duty shoulder pad – like the postal workers use (as though that’s going to make a difference)
Here’s what the whole thing looks like:

And, the total weight, all in minus the netbook, is about 15 lb. Most of the time I won’t have the tripod, so it will be about 12.5 lb. Still not light, but manageable – i hope.

BTW, if you think this is a lot, take a look at this video to see how much equipment commercial photographer Peter Belanger used just to take a studio shot of an iPhone 3G S

World Music Festival in La Jolla

I mentioned a week ago that there always seems to be something going on in La Jolla. Today there was a world music festival in the park, and of course I was there with my camera. Here are a few quick photos – that’s the Pacific in the background. Not quite the same as dusty Rajasthan from a few years ago, and not a cow in sight, but it was within walking distance.

And tomorrow is the first day of the Tour of California bike race. It starts in Escondido and goes up Mt Palomar (which I have ridden up three times; but they will travel twice as far on the day, and go twice as fast – at least; but then again, I am twice as old – at least). Anyway, I plan to be there, so expect some more photos tomorrow

Back in action

I got my camera back from Nikon yesterday. Excellent turnaround time – I sent it on Tuesday and got it back on Friday; and it looks like the sensor spots are completely eliminated; I hope it stays that way.

Needless to say, I was back out again yesterday with my camera. And I was rewarded with a glorious sunset. The Scripps pier at La Jolla Shores attracts a lot of photographers, and this time of year the sun sets right in line with the direction of the pier. I took some late afternoon photos at a couple of other locations first, so by the time I got to the pier, there were a couple of serious photographers already there with their big tripods aimed directly up the length of the pier.

I had left my heavy Manfrotto at home and was instead using a light travel tripod, which I recently bought for my upcoming trip to Italy. I was feeling significantly outgunned, but it allowed me to quickly jump around between various locations rather that stay anchored in one place. And I’m glad I did, as I think it allowed me to get a variety of interesting shots. Here are a couple.

Now I just need to get my wide angle zoom back, and I’ll be ready for Italy.

Here we go…

OK. My first blog post! My camera is away for “service” and my favorite lens is in for repair, so it’s the perfect time for me to set up my website and blog.

Since moving to La Jolla about a year ago, I have been spending a lot of my time walking around the area and taking photos – especially since I got my new D600 for Christmas. I love this camera, even though I am seeing the “spots on sensor” issue that hopefully Nikon will be able to resolve (hence my current lack of a camera).

But back to La Jolla; with its coastline and hills it is a fantastic place for a photographer. And there always seems to be something going on. Last weekend was the La Jolla half marathon, and the place was packed with people and plenty of photo ops of sweaty, grimacing runners. But here’s a photo of one of the tents after the finish line.

A few weeks ago was the Concours d’Elegance, a really impressive vintage car show, where the rich and famous display their expensive toys, and the rest of us gather to drool or take photos. You can click through below to view some of the highly polished perfection on display.

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