On The Wharf, At Night

It is different going down to the wharf at night, the sounds of the sea lions underneath are muffled in the quiet, the pungent fishy smells seem less sharp as there is no wind, and there are less people.


See, blue and red really do make purple. That ceiling is really just painted white, but at night the colorful neon sign makes it appear to be a lovely purple.


A porthole window looks in on the glassware hanging over the bar. We used to have a porthole window in our first home, which was named(before we bought it)SnugHarbor. Indeed it was, at 840 square feet. I find I do miss having a round window in our house, it was unique and a fun way to look out at the world.

I love the rounded roof line and shape of this building. It looks like a little tug boat stuck right onto the dock.

The same picture but blurry. I kind of like this one better.

More exciting, implies movement and energy, something happening besides sitting on a bench, waiting for the shrimp cocktail you've ordered at the take out window.

Illustration of Framing

Three separate pictures taken at the Santa Cruz Wharf at sunset a week ago. This is not an exercise in digital cropping, but illustrating how different the same scene can look depending on what you include in your original shot.
First picture shows the entire boat on the dock.

Only half of the boat and on the right, the edge of the point of land.

No sign of the boat, just the edge of the dock, more emphasis on the beauty of the sunset clouds reflected in the water, and more of the land to the right.

Which one do you prefer out of the three?

I think my favorite is the middle one, the sky looks so sherbert-y, the reflections of the posts of the dock are intriguing, and I like how the jet contrail points at the boat, just in case you didn't notice it.

Movie Theatre Inspiration

We recently went to the Del Mar theatre in Santa Cruz, one of those re-done old-style movie theatres, with lots of great art deco touches. I think they did a great job on the refurbishment job, many authentic touches and fun things to notice when you're waiting around for your movie. This is a shot of the sign out the second story lounge window.
Zach and Marc discussing the movie. We took our boys and several of their friends to go see the movie Milk. (which is a really great portrait of this inspirational gay rights leader, Sean Pean is completely amazing). Check out the ceiling behind them, pretty detailed!

I love this mirror shot of Zach.

The faux painting was really well done, this fooled my eye at first. The bit around the base of the lamp is not a 3D plaster ornament, it is just a flat painting. Those are the original lamp fixtures from the theatre. It is nice when they re-use the original stuff after a refurbishment, a good connection with the past.

They did a lot of decorative painting on the ceilings with shiny gold paint. Several of these designs would look nice on a quilt border wouldn't they?

Alex thinking about the movie. Or pausing in-between slipping off the slippery leather couches.

I love clouds like this. Don't they look so edible?

One of the original theater seats, pretty swoopy design, looks like a race car.

Up On The Sea Walk

A walk along the road in Santa Cruz on a just-about-to-be-rainy-day.

A surfer walks in to the shore.

The safety railing isn't looking too safe anymore. But look at that cool texture.

No, really I don't think it is very safe, and I see kids hanging on them! The dropoff down to the rocks below isn't something you'd want to fall off of. But look at the interesting colors and patterns in this distressed metal.

Think anyone will be fixing them anytime soon? I doubt it. But the rust looks pretty cool from an artistic viewpoint. I just have to take off the worried-mom hat to enjoy it!

The stormy skies converge on the Santa Cruz Lighthouse (and surf museum).

This lawn used to be over-run by dogs (and their leavings) but then they started cracking down
on dogs in public spaces, sigh.

The dramatic sky doesn't impress the sea lions or seagulls.

But it impresses me. Just look at those shadows cast on the ocean's surface by the towering clouds.

I tried playing with changing the color to black and white and it didn't make much difference in this picture, it was such a grey day to begin with.

This was the last picture I took, my camera battery gave up. These birds let me get really close, as if they were much more worried about keeping warm.

An Afternoon in Santa Cruz

The other day I got to drive on a field trip (wheee! haven't done that in quite a while, once kids get into middle school, not so many opportunities) to take son Alex's drama class to Fiddler on the Roof in Santa Cruz. It was a very nicely done production, and I had a chance to take some non-kid related pictures while we waited for the theatre to open.

The willow tree we parked under (or maybe it is a pepper tree).

The beautiful old tile work over the door to the theatre. Louden Nelson Community Center

used to be an elementary school and is built in the Mission Revival style.

The painted ceiling in the theatre. Hard to get a good shot with the bright stage lights on.

The Fiddler on the Roof! He was a wonderful violinist, a young teenager who had to get up and down off the roof a couple times during the show. You can see the painted trim around the stage pretty well in this picture, isn't it a lovely design?

The lion guarding the door of the house across the street from the theatre. I loved the colors in this picture, and the shadows.