I will be going on a trip to Victorville CA and have the ability to do some traveling. I am thinking about staying at Paradise Point for a few nights, someone sugested that I could get some nice images there. I am willing to travel 2-3 hours from Victorville for some impressive scenery.What I am looking for is mostly nice beaches, rocky sand beaches and flat palm tree beaches. I would also love some nice desert shots for dramatic contrast. I will be doing some scenery shots and fashion style shots using strobes. I have a little over a week. I live in Alaska so this will be quite different from what I regularly shoot.Reading other threads this is what I have so far La Jolla cove Torrey Pines State ReserveIf you guys know of some good resorts on some nice beaches I would love to get that info to, because based on what I see online I am not that impressed with Paradise Point.Thanks in advance!

not sure what you meanhttp://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Victorville+CA&daddr=san+diego&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=33.895497,-116.83136&sspn=1.860286,3.702393≷=us&ie=UTF8≪=33.612332,-117.276306&spn=1.866439,3.702393&z=9

Not sure why you're staying out in Victorville, which is a good 3-4 hour drive from the San Diego area and a long way from most major airports...The La Jolla area and the beach towns north to Oceanside are good areas for photography. No specific recommendations, but you'll see what I mean. Drive along the beach route (known variously as Coast highway 101 and El Camino Del Mar).However, if you're interested in deserts, Joshua Tree NP is relatively close to Victorville.If you're shooting commercially, you'll most likely need permits.Best,Pauliceflamewrote:I will be going on a trip to Victorville CA and have the ability to do some traveling. I am thinking about staying at Paradise Point for a few nights, someone sugested that I could get some nice images there. I am willing to travel 2-3 hours from Victorville for some impressive scenery.

Victorville in the Mojave desert or some other Victorville, CA... If the former, there is nothing but desert around so you can get nice desert shots but the ocean is ways away... Some nearby (in California sense of the word "nearby") attractions: Mojave Airport, Edwards AFB, Techachapi, Death Valley (a bit far...), Big Bear Lake (up in the mountains), Joshua Tree, etc.

hotel del coronado is pretty nice, but not exactly inexpensive, although since it is not summer rates it might be doablealthough you dont actually need to stay there to enjoy the beach, scenery, dine there anywayhttp://www.hoteldel.com/promotional-packages.aspxyou can run over to joshua tree if you want desert stuff with joshua trees and rock formationsmost beaches don't really have too many palms growing in them in socal (palm is not actually even native to CA!) but they do have them planted along venice beach back inland near the grass and the sidewalks and there are scattered palms here and there near quite a few of the beaches although not so much on the beaches but at the boundaries before the roads and stuff start again, but it wont be like some tropical island type thing with palms growing all over the beaches and right down to the water. laguna beach has some palms. of course you can find the classic palm lined streets in beverly hills.if you go up on mulholland drive there are some interesting views of LA and also back into the valley on the other side and also of some homes much bigger than some large hotels hah, there is a near walking park near the eastern end that has great views over LA at night and there is a pull out a little farther east with some views too (also down into the hollywood bowl). also drive upto mt. wilson and get good views day or night (beware the twisty road at the top and also that the power transmitters up there render some cars electronic door unlocking useless, which is kinda scary actually)big sur is an amazing driveanyway none of these are all that close to victorville you must realize and you wont be doing like 85mph as the crow flies like perhaps in some parts of alaska and in LA it can take 2-3 hours to get the beach in LA from LAand you really would need a couple weeks to do a decent percentage of the stuff (and that is going place to place exporing and not sitting around in some resort then you would need weeks and weeks)if you want the classic CA beach and beautiful girls every couple inches, then mission beach, SD is probably it, although maybe not quite so much this time of yearpoint loma is pretty coolthere is a nice beachfront hotel in laguna beach, also pricey thoughragged point inn on the big sur is nice, but you have no time for both the socal stuff and the big suriceflamewrote:I will be going on a trip to Victorville CA and have the ability to do some traveling. I am thinking about staying at Paradise Point for a few nights, someone sugested that I could get some nice images there. I am willing to travel 2-3 hours from Victorville for some impressive scenery.What I am looking for is mostly nice beaches, rocky sand beaches and flat palm tree beaches. I would also love some nice desert shots for dramatic contrast. I will be doing some scenery shots and fashion style shots using strobes. I have a little over a week. I live in Alaska so this will be quite different from what I regularly shoot.Reading other threads this is what I have so far La Jolla cove Torrey Pines State ReserveIf you guys know of some good resorts on some nice beaches I would love to get that info to, because based on what I see online I am not that impressed with Paradise Point.Thanks in advance!

Personally, I'm not in love with So Cal beaches. Hersey, I know, but they are just not that interesting photographically, to me anyway. Del Mar is nice, though. Dont' know La Jolla Cove. There are some interesting images on the beaches just north of the San Onfre nuke plant off interstate 5. "Old Man's" is kinda fun up that way. The classic So Cal beach is Will Roger's in LA for it's "Bay Watch"-ness, or Westward Beach with its rocks up by Zuma where countless movies, TV shows, commercials, videos, and still where shot. You might remember it from the ending of the Planet of the Apes.Far more interesting, though, is the stuff northish from Victorville. Dumont Dunes, for instance, are stunning sand dunes out in the middle of nowhere. There are huge. Over by Barstow is Amboy, with it's funky motel, volcano, and lava flows. Old Route 66 drives up through there and you can just wander that and find all kinds of interesting things. Out to the north and west is the Mojave desert...lots of photo to be had there. And, of course, there's the ever popular Death Valley. Drive up the 15 to Baker...that's pretty interesting with it's giant thermometer. Or go south and head into the Lancaster Palmdale area for that wedding murder scene in "Kill Bill" style desert/meth lab grunge...along with that classic desert road off into the distance shot.Is a week enough?Enjoy...and you can also contact the California Film Commission for all kinds of cool location ideas, they even have a web site with pictures and such...!

Victorville is in the middle of nowhere and far from the coast (in miles and time). I had never heard of Paradise Point, but having looked it up, it appears to be a resort in San Diego's Mission Bay. If that's where you are headed, then La Jolla and its coves, Cabrillio National Monument, Carlsbad, etc. are pretty neat. The Coronado Hotel and its surroundings might interest you. If you have a passport, you could do a day in Tijuana or go as far as Rosarito Beach in Baja.From Victorville, interesting desert stuff is 3 hrs plus. The best would be Joshua Tree NP. Death Valley is about 3+. As already suggested, the desert around Amboy is pretty stark, and S of there are the Kelso Dunes. -- Sadja http://www.pbase.com/sadja

More variety than San Diego or LA.....Drive to: Santa Barbara http://www.flickr.com/photos/anewstereophonic/sets/961455/Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuckthephotographer/sets/72157604180777852/orMorro Bay (Near San Luis Obispo) http://www.flickr.com/photos/dleroy/sets/72157608343543245/Norbert

The desert will certainly offer you a change of scenery - and you are going at a good time of year for that. Things are really spread out though.The beaches in socal are not so great really, especially in the winter. Maybe the temps don't compare to Alaska, but it isn't exactly beach weather here. I would echo Santa Barbara (nice palm tree strip along the beach and beautiful ocean front resorts) North if you really want beaches and beautiful coastline. But really, I've been to Alaska, and you have some fantastic rocky coastline there - maybe lacking a few Palm trees . . . .but the palm tree thing is just landscaping in California and looks nothing like Hawaii or some other tropical paradise you think of when thinking palm trees. The highway 1 drive between Morro Bay and Big Sur is beautiful, no doubt about it, but compared to what you have in Alaska . . . hmmmmmJust a suggestion, but spend your time exploring the desert - if you want palm beaches, make a little side trip to Hawaii on the way homeHave fun, hope you don't spend all your time in the car!

4 hours away. One of the prettiest beaches, Laguna. Nice town. Crystal Cove, cliffs and views of Catalina, nice sunsets at Moss St. and Victoria St. -[a small lighthouse around the cove]. http://www.lagunabeachinfo.com/phototour/Newport Beach, if you like wildlife sanctuaries, is a nice drive along Back Bay Dr.La Jolla aND san diego beaches [ 60-80 mi. south of Laguna] http://www.webwindpro.com/beach/BchSanDiego.html http://www.sandiego.gov/lifeguards/beaches/cove.shtml

iceflamewrote:I will be going on a trip to Victorville CA and have the ability to do some traveling. I am thinking about staying at Paradise Point for a few nights, someone sugested that I could get some nice images there. I am willing to travel 2-3 hours from Victorville for some impressive scenery.What I am looking for is mostly nice beaches, rocky sand beaches and flat palm tree beaches. I would also love some nice desert shots for dramatic contrast. I will be doing some scenery shots and fashion style shots using strobes. I have a little over a week. I live in Alaska so this will be quite different from what I regularly shoot.Reading other threads this is what I have so far La Jolla cove Torrey Pines State ReserveIf you guys know of some good resorts on some nice beaches I would love to get that info to, because based on what I see online I am not that impressed with Paradise Point.Thanks in advance!I'm confused, Victorville or Paradise Point? Is there a Paradise Point in Victorville, or are you staying at the Paradise Point in San Diego?Two to three hours from Victorville won't get you to SD, but it might get you to Malibu/Santa Monica.If you're staying at the PP in SD, it's very nice, but it's on what we call the small bay, Mission Bay. Nice, quiet, no waves, lotsa jet skis Mission Bay. From there, it's a short hop to Point Loma/Sunset Cliffs, which can be spectacular, especially with the light house.Not sure what your looking for in a resort, there's the Bahia, nice, but small and old, the Catamaran, Hilton Mission Bay, The Dana, all on Mission Bay. Then there's the Half Moon Inn, Kona Kai Club, Bay Club and Island Palms on Shelter Island on San Diego Bay, a whole slew of hotels on Harbor Island, including two Sheratons, Hotel Del Coronado, historical, huge and luxurious, the Pacific Terrace in Pacific Beach along with a bunch of other hotels on the sand. Here's a link: http://arestravel.com/1507_hotel-list_m51.html -- Skip M http://www.shadowcatcherimagery.com http://www.pbase.com/skipm http://skipm.smugmug.com/ 'Living in the heart of a dream, in the Promised Land!' John Stewart

If you will have the flexibility to stay elsewhere for a couple of days at a crack in addition to a base camp in Victorville then none of us can even start to describe all that might be available to you within a days drive. You can be to Joshua Tree, into any of three mountain ranges, to the beach or coastline anywhere from Monterey to Morro Bay, to Santa Barbara, to San Diego. You can be to Death Valley, Sequoia National Forest, even to the Grand Canyon. --Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 40D, a collection of EF L f2.8 lenses, and a Canon A650IS knockaround (love the articulating screen and 640 x 480 video thats limited by only memory card size)

Deserts Near Victorville:Joshua Tree National Park Alabama Hills near Lone Pine Death ValleyThese are some of the best shooting locations on the face of the Earth.

Las Vegas is 2.5 hours away. Excellent photo opportunities there. Red Rock Canyon is close to Las Vegas as well.

which is a very cool place to shoot - looks like a set from the original Star Trek or something

The Valley of Fire is awesome...an amazing place.

If you're based in Victorville, CA, you can go to Bagdad - this is where they shot the movie Bagdad cafe. Very nice movie. It's in the middle of nowhere, and I had there the best burger that I've found in the US. I recommend.