Cycling Through Los Angeles, Photographer Finds Solitude in an Overlooked Beach Landmark

“The bird transformed the viewing machine into a solitary character, quietly watching an almost empty beach beneath dramatic skies.”

A routine bicycle ride along the Southern California coastline became the setting for one of photographer Alon Goldsmith’s most memorable images, demonstrating how ordinary public spaces can reveal compelling visual narratives when viewed with patience and careful observation.

The Johannesburg-born, Los Angeles-based photographer captured the black-and-white image during an ongoing personal photography project that challenges him to take and publish one photograph every day throughout 2026. The initiative, which began on New Year’s Day, has become both a creative exercise and a discipline in observing everyday life.

Goldsmith said the project requires constant attentiveness because each day presents different creative challenges. Some days, he explained, it is difficult to discover a subject worthy of inclusion, while on others the challenge lies in selecting a single image from several strong possibilities.

The featured photograph was taken on the 111th day of the project during one of Goldsmith’s regular cycling routes through Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier area. The photographer describes the coastal neighbourhood as a place filled with visual surprises, where everyday scenes frequently provide opportunities for spontaneous photography.

Rather than travelling with the specific intention of photographing landmarks or planned subjects, Goldsmith uses his daily rides as opportunities to observe the changing character of familiar locations. He said moving through the city by bicycle encourages a slower pace, allowing details that might otherwise go unnoticed to emerge naturally.

According to Goldsmith, slowing down changes the relationship between the photographer and the surrounding environment. Instead of moving quickly from one destination to another, he views cycling as a way of engaging more carefully with everyday scenes and noticing visual moments that are often overlooked.

The image centres on a public Hi-Spy viewing machine positioned on Santa Monica Pier overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Such viewing devices are common features at tourist destinations, designed to provide visitors with magnified views of surrounding landscapes. In Goldsmith’s photograph, however, the machine becomes something more symbolic than functional.

During post-production, Goldsmith chose to convert the original colour image into black and white, a decision he said strengthened the composition’s visual structure and emotional tone. Removing colour shifted attention toward contrasts in light, texture and form while enhancing the dramatic cloud formations stretching across the sky.

The monochrome treatment also reinforced what Goldsmith described as the photograph’s cinematic quality. The clouds appear heavier and more sculptural, creating a sense of atmosphere that frames the otherwise quiet beach scene beyond the viewing machine.

A small bird perched on the machine became a defining element of the composition. Rather than functioning simply as part of the background, the bird altered the visual relationship between the viewer and the subject, giving the otherwise mechanical object a distinctly human quality.

Goldsmith said the bird effectively transformed the viewing machine into a solitary character looking across an almost deserted shoreline. That subtle interaction between an inanimate object and a living creature became the emotional centre of the photograph, inviting viewers to interpret the scene beyond its literal subject.

The image reflects a long-standing tradition within street and documentary photography, where meaning often emerges through the arrangement of ordinary elements rather than carefully staged scenes. Photographers working in public spaces frequently rely on timing, composition and observation instead of directing subjects or altering environments.

For Goldsmith, authenticity remains an essential part of that approach. Although digital editing formed part of the creative process through the conversion to black and white, he rejected the idea of removing or manipulating elements that naturally appeared in the frame.

He said features such as the bird or small accumulations of sand could easily have been erased using modern editing software, but doing so would conflict with his understanding of the ethical principles associated with street photography. Maintaining the integrity of the original moment, he believes, is fundamental to preserving the photograph’s documentary value.

That philosophy reflects broader discussions within contemporary photography about the balance between artistic interpretation and factual representation. While adjustments involving exposure, contrast or colour are widely accepted, altering the physical content of an image by adding or removing subjects remains controversial in documentary and street photography because it changes the reality originally witnessed by the photographer.

Goldsmith’s daily project has also become an exercise in consistency rather than perfection. Producing a photograph every day requires sustained observation and encourages creative engagement even when obvious subjects are absent. Such long-term projects are widely regarded by photographers as valuable methods of refining visual awareness and strengthening storytelling through repetition and discipline.

The coastal route between Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier provides a constantly changing environment despite its familiarity. Variations in weather, lighting, seasonal activity and pedestrian movement ensure that no two journeys are identical, allowing familiar locations to generate new photographic opportunities throughout the year.

The featured image demonstrates how commonplace urban infrastructure can acquire unexpected emotional resonance when viewed through careful composition. A viewing machine intended to help visitors observe distant scenery instead becomes the central subject itself, conveying stillness, isolation and quiet reflection against the backdrop of the Pacific coastline.

By relying on observation rather than elaborate planning, Goldsmith’s photograph illustrates how everyday environments continue to offer meaningful visual stories. His image suggests that compelling photography often depends less on extraordinary subjects than on the patience to recognise moments that briefly transform ordinary objects into scenes capable of inviting wider interpretation.