Venice Beach, California
Here I was, sitting with my husband waiting for our pasta dinners at an Italian sidewalk cafe just a few blocks from the Venice Beach Fishing Pier when he exclaimed “Hey, check this out. Here come some mounted police.” Sure enough, clip-clopping down the center of W. Washington Boulevard were two policemen on horseback. “Who would have thought in Venice Beach,” I said, and turned back to the table. “Here come a few more,” he said. And as we watched, all five walked their horses up to the Cold Stone Creamery, dismounted, and leaving one officer holding the reins to all five, four walked into the ice cream shop. “I have to get this!” I exclaimed. “Go, go, go,” he said.
So I grabbed my camera, ran across the street, and began shooting. I wasn’t the only one. People stopped with their cellphones to take photos of the police and their horses. More interested in getting the shot that included the storefront, I shot from the “rear view,” making sure I didn’t hold up any traffic.
In today’s heated social climate, I spoke to the officers afterwards and thanked them for their service. They were so very grateful, confessing they didn’t hear that often. This is not meant as any kind of political commentary; I simply wanted to acknowledge them.
Finished shooting, I went back to the table and my husband, who told me that, according to our waiter, these officers used to go to the Starbucks a few doors down; deciding instead that smoothies were healthier, they made Cold Stone their new coffee break stop. Caloriewise, I’m not so sure of their reasoning unless they were loading up on java chip frappuccinos, but hey, this is after all, Los Angeles and somehow the idea of smoothie-drinking police officers just seemed to fit. As for the horses? Yeah, I’m still surprised by that. Perhaps I should have titled this post “Only in L.A.”
Salute!
For more of my work, visit VisualVenturing.com.
oh I like this in B&W, too, Stacy.
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Thanks, Laurie 🙂
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So funny, great shot and what a story to tell! You know that if it was the NYPD they’d be outside a Dunkin’Donuts. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your time in lovely Venice Beach.
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Personally, I prefer Dunkin’ Donuts 😀 Thanks, Patti. And apart from a pretty bad case of sunburn, I had a fun day of photography from Venice Beach up to Santa Monica Pier and back again!
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What a fabulous shot – you really captured the whole scene. I would never have known they were police officers. I thought they were some lost cowboys or something 🙂
Alison
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LOL, thanks, Alison. I do wish they had stood out more in the shot, but hey, sometimes you just gotta go with the flow 🙂
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This is such a fantastic shot accompanied by a great story!
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Thanks so much! I’m delighted you enjoyed both 🙂
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When I first saw the title It reminded me of those assignments we had to do in school “What I did during my summer vacation” Stacy 😀 This is a spectacular shot and it sounds like these officers have my sort of reasoning you know cheese stuffed fresh ravioli is healthier than bacon, LOL. Awesome work.
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LOL, thanks, Joe 😀 (But I’d say it’s a tie between the ravioli and the bacon in my book!)
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what a really great capture! love the story!
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Thanks, Olive! Glad you enjoyed the tale (or “tail” as the case may be 😀).
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