Lady Bikers of California – Malibu Riders

I left Santa Barbara on sadly my last day in the States and headed off to Malibu for another shoot I had arranged with some more of the wonderful Lady Bikers of California.  The winds were unbelievably high and I stopped off in San Buenaventura beach to photograph some of the huge waves.  They were so strong they actually washed away part of a pier at Ventura less than a mile away from where I was!

I met up with the ladies at Neptune’s Net restaurant and after a bite to eat we started the rather windswept shoot across the road with the amazing Pacific Ocean as a backdrop.  Sadly due to time restrictions some of the ladies had to leave after I photographed the individual riders so I followed Debra and Kathleen to Zuma beach to finish off the shoot.  It was the perfect location and just the sort of place I wanted as a background.  The Lifeguard’s station was pure American.  I wanted to try and take shots wherever I went that screamed where they had been taken.  The location may have been perfect but the weather wasn’t.  The winds blew an almighty sandstorm right across the beach where I was trying to work.  It got so bad when I was photographing Debra that Kathleen had to try and shield me and my camera with a coat.  Unfortunately I think some sand somehow got into my sealed camera and lens and I’ve had a slight problem with it since.  Not to worry; it can be fixed, and I got the shots I was after.  So forget expensive exfoliants and simply lie down in the road next to a very windswept beach 😄😄.

Although there were lots of colourful bikes and clothing I thought the shots would look brilliant in black and white so I did a colour version (which you can see below) and created a B&W version for the slideshow.  You can make up your own mind which works best.

I said goodbye to Debra and Kathleen, thanked them for their patience and co-operation and headed off to have a look round Santa Monica before heading off to the airport for my flight to Sydney.  It was the perfect last day of my adventure in America.  I wish I could do it all over again.  Thank you so much to all the ladies who took part.  xx

You can view a slideshow of all the images by clicking HERE