When driving to Woodland Hills, take Pacific Coast Highway and go over Mailbu Canyon Road through the mountains to the valley. Lots of great photo ops through there, also consider driving over Topanga Canyon Road to the valley. Google Santa Monica Mountain Hikes and you'll see the many trails in that area.

In Orange County, Limestone Canyon, OC's answer to Zion National Park is one of the most unknown wonders in So Cal.

irlandmarks.org/Explore/Limestone-Canyon-Wil…

Be prepared for a healthy hike though.

I'd recommend the Santa Monica Mountains, as well, especially if you will be working in Woodland Hills.

The Santa Monica Mountains have many hiking trails of every ability level and views of the Pacific can be terrific. I really like Solstice Canyon:

www.everytrail.com/guide/solstice-canyon

Along the Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu up to the Ventura County line is a great drive where the views are beautiful, especially around Pt. Mugu State Park.

As for the Palos Verdes area, it is better to drive North to South, since the pull-outs are on the coastal side of the road. Point Vicente is a great place to take phots. Here is a link to the Coastal drive in Southern California that shows a map with the route in the Palos Verdes area.

tripadvisor.com/Travel-g28926-c174834/Califo…

I agree with the suggestion to drive from Woodland Hills to Malibu via Malibu Canyon Road or Topanga Canyon Road from Woodland Hills. In Malibu try to drive through Pepperdine University (its gated but the guards will usually let you through if you tell them you just want to drive through the campus) - the campus is up in the hills and there's some great landscape photography opportunities from up there but there may be limited opportunities to stop for photos - still worth a try. Also worth a quick stop is the Adamson House in Malibu - good views of the ocean and coastline and if you go to the north edge of the property there's some good photo opportunities of the lagoon there.

Another thought from Woodland Hills would be to drive north to Chatsworth, where you'll find some interesting rock formations.

Other thoughts would be to go up to the Getty Center, Griffith Observatory and the parking lot at Dodger Stadium (go on a non-game day so you won't have to pay for parking) for sweeping views of LA. Dodger Stadium has great views of the downtown LA skyline. Getty Center and Griffith, the quality will depend a bit more on the weather/haze/smog conditions - after a storm its very clear and you can see a long way. Other times not so much.

If you are really wanting a quiet and photographic spot try visiting the Japanese Garden in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area.

It's located on Woodley Ave, not far from Woodland Hills.

Website..... http://www.thejapanesegarden.com/

Dr. Z

Ahhhh, you know I love you guys, right??!!! Great work, forum mates. So much thanks, and feel free to drop up to Toronto forum for a little cool weather fun!!!

I remember a spot in Ventura off the 101 where the road seems to be right where the water is. On a clear day and no waves the water looks like glass it is beautiful but its probably 90 minutes to 2 hours away from your location

You should read this article about driving through the hills around LA tripadvisor.com/Travel-g32655-c86961/Los-Ang…