Laguna Beach Location Help

I'll be doing my first engagement session soon... I'm not sure about the location, but someone here suggest laguna beach.... Please help where in laguna beach is the best location, including sunset over the ocean and rock formation... a couple of years ago, the sunset was over some cliffs (Heisler Park)... I prefer the sunset over the ocean...

Please Help, anybody from so cal.

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Due to the huge increase of photographers shooting all the time Laguna Beach and Newport Beach have really started clamping down and now require photo permits that must be purchased in advance. I believe the permit fee for Laguna is $250. Having said that many photographers, myself not included, try to shoot without a permit. At the lease, if caught, they will be asked to stop. At the most they can be ticketed and in extreme cases they can even be arrested. Consequently, if you are planning on shooting in Laguna I would keep away from the main beaches and seek out the smaller beaches in South Laguna. Note, I am not advocating the practice of not paying the permit.

Rick

I am not advocating shooting without a permit, but this trend of permit shooting in public places is sickening.

you can also get great shots from the local parks that overlook the beach...

foghorn wrote in post #4025810
I am not advocating shooting without a permit, but this trend of permit shooting in public places is sickening.

Not a whole lot we can do about it except voting the politicians that enact laws like this out of office. It's so bad that a friend of mine was told to leave a beach in Newport where she was taking pictures of her grandson. Apparently the police officer that told her to leave equated her Nikon D70 camera with being a professional photographer.

JWright wrote in post #4027864
Not a whole lot we can do about it except voting the politicians that enact laws like this out of office. It's so bad that a friend of mine was told to leave a beach in Newport where she was taking pictures of her grandson. Apparently the police officer that told her to leave equated her Nikon D70 camera with being a professional photographer.

That is horrendous. And those stories are not rare.

I believe the permit rule stem from complaints of residents and visitors as I hear photogs often had lights and extensive setup, thereby blocking normal flow of traffic around the beach.

I guess some rich folks in Orange County can and do pay to go all out.

Tee Why wrote in post #4028164
I believe the permit rule stem from complaints of residents and visitors as I hear photogs often had lights and extensive setup, thereby blocking normal flow of traffic around the beach.

What I have observed for years is that on one favored beach, Little Corona, any night of the week there would be anywhere from 15-30 photographers with their wedding couples and families. The beach is about 1/4 mile long. On top of that you would frequently see more involved studio set ups shooting models.

When the sun began to set the chaos started and the photographers would work into a frenzy often yelling at the regular beachgoing Moms to "get your F-ing kid out of my shot!" Then on those nights when the beach was really jammed the photographers would over flow and start posing their couples on the stairs and front porches of the homes. It was not surprising at all to me that the city started getting so many complaints and began to monitor the activity. You see, all the photographers would show up shortly before sunset and that was an hour or so after the lifeguards left for the day so no one in authority was there to monitor the chaos.

Once again, just like in so many churches now, photographers, the many a-holes, have ruined it for the entire profession.

Rick

Tee Why wrote in post #4028164
I believe the permit rule stem from complaints of residents and visitors as I hear photogs often had lights and extensive setup, thereby blocking normal flow of traffic around the beach.

I guess some rich folks in Orange County can and do pay to go all out.

I've been on the beach before when there are photogs eating up 100' of beach with giant softboxes, lights, etc. and a crew of 20. It is annoying considering there's not really a lot of usable beach at Laguna Beach. I agree, however, that it is total B.S. to charge $250 to use a public place. Laguna Beach like most other places in Orange County is run by kooks with outrageous sense of entitlement.

I was at Heisler Park earlier this week and it was all closed off for a landscaping project that's currently underway. Beach access may be somewhat limited right now.

From the main beach, this time of year, the sun sets behind the Southern tip of Catalina Island. The shot below was Dec. 18 and the sun was just hitting the edge of Catalina as it set. This was taken at the main beach in downtown Laguna Beach.

thanks...
is it the southern edge or the northern edge...