Taking the ferry from downtown San Diego to Coronado is like crossing into a dream. It’s a journey to a magical place. The island is like a small, carefree paradise.
I had a variety of photos from my ferry ride and walk yesterday, so I thought I’d try converting a few into oil paintings! I cropped selected images then used the Oilify artistic filter that comes with the GIMP graphics editor.
It was a beautiful misty winter day.
Those are sea lions lying on a buoy in the bay!
The words etched in the sand near the Coronado Ferry Landing? I’ll let you decide.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
The following series of photos represents a span of time from about 45 minutes before sunset to about 10 minutes after sunset. I took these shots this evening.
I lifted my camera periodically as I sat on a bench beside Tuna Harbor, on San Diego’s beautiful Embarcadero.
It was interesting to watch how the light would subtly change.
Our world’s inexorable journey through space and time gradually transformed Tuna Harbor’s fishing boats, the water and the sky, and various downtown buildings.
I took these photos as I sat working on a new short story. I’m pretty sure it will be titled Light at the Edges.
I hope the story will be finished to my satisfaction in the near future. When the words feel right, I’ll publish them here.
Balboa Park is magical at any time, but as nightfall approaches, and the last rays of golden sunlight touch buildings and trees, the magic flames, becomes even more powerful.
I got off work early today and used the extra bit of daylight to walk about the park and take photographs.
These are the best…
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Early this morning I headed to the mountains east of San Diego. I yearned to see the new snow.
I departed before a crowd of families and kids, eager to sled and throw snowballs, might jump into their cars. It doesn’t snow in a city whose climate is said to be the best in the world. For many San Diego residents a journey to the snow is a rare treat.
Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is a little less than an hour east of downtown San Diego. I drove from Interstate 8 up Highway 79 and lingered in several spots, crunching crackly ice and crisp snow under my shoes. Good thing I dressed warmly!
Here are a few photographs of winter’s beauty in the meadows and mountains of Cuyamaca.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Sunrise at South Bay Salt Works is a spectacle that’s hard to describe. The sun’s first rays tint the dunelike mounds of pure white salt with a golden glow, creating an effect that is otherworldly and strangely beautiful.
Yesterday as the sun cleared the horizon I approached South Bay Salt Works to experience the magic. I took many photographs!
Wikipedia has an extensive article about South Bay Salt Works, which is located near Chula Vista, in the tiny Fruitdale section of San Diego’s Otay Mesa-Nestor community. I was interested to learn it’s the second longest running business in San Diego after the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper. The salt factory began as La Punta Salt Company sometime before 1872.
Large evaporation ponds at the southern end of San Diego Bay are the source of the salt, but the water comes directly from the Pacific Ocean. South Bay Salt Works produces about 75,000 tons of salt every year from ponds that cover over a thousand acres. For decades is was the sole supplier of salt for Southern California.
Many migrating birds are attracted to the evaporation ponds. The salinity of the water supports an abundance of brine flies and brine shrimp. Today, even as salt harvesting operations continue, the ponds are officially part of the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
I was once told by someone who knows a little about South Bay Salt Works that the salt is shipped from San Diego to places with freezing winters, where it’s used on roads and highways to melt the ice.
Enjoy these photographs!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Visitors to the Japanese Friendship Garden gaze at Kannon Bosatsu, a nearly three century old 5750 pound bronze statue recently installed in the Lower Garden!
Several days ago an astonishing 5750 pound bronze statue, created in 1735 by Takumi Obata, was installed by crane at the Japanese Friendship Garden!
I must apologize, because up until now I have been referring to the new statue as a Great Buddha. After seeing the magnificent sculpture firsthand today, and reading more about it, I’ve learned that it’s actually a kannon statue, representing Kannon Bosatsu, a Buddhist goddess of mercy that is popular in Japan. The deity is called Guanyin in other parts of Asia, and has its origin in India in the 1st or 2nd century.
The amazing, nearly 300 year old cast bronze statue sits beside the Japanese Friendship Garden’s new stream in the Lower Garden, among peaceful trees that invite meditation.
Originally this Kannon Bosatsu was located at the Middlegate Japanese Garden in Pass Christian, Mississippi. When Hurricane Katrina destroyed that garden, the damaged statue was acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Gabrych, who later donated it to San Diego’s Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park.
A second statue that was donated to JFG also was installed several days ago. The large guardian deity stands in the Upper Garden, opposite the bonsai collection. I’m told that less is known about the exact history of this particular sculpture. I believe it represents Kongorikishi, one of the two Nio guardians of Buddha who stand at the entrance of many Buddhist temples.
Enjoy these photos, then head over to the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park for the full experience!
Kannon Bosatsu sits tranquilly in a beautiful corner of the Japanese Friendship Garden near the source of a new stream.Nearby sign describes Kannon Bosatsu, created in 1735 by Japanese sculptor Takumi Obata, an accomplished iron smith during to Tokugawa period. (Click photo to enlarge image.)The large bronze Kannon Bosatsu represents the Japanese goddess of mercy.A closer photo of the serene Kannon Bosatsu.A leaf has turned and fallen into the lap of a merciful deity.Gazing from the statue down the new stream toward a new bare wood observation platform.A simple, elegant wooden platform straddles the new stream in the Japanese Friendship Garden.Nature’s elements will make this structure more beautiful over time.Gazing from the platform down at the second half of the new stream, to where it joins the Lower Garden’s main river.The new stream is already very beautiful.It’s now winter in the Japanese Friendship Garden, and great beauty is everywhere.The guardian deity statue that now stands opposite the bonsai collection in the Upper Garden.I believe this statue represents Kongorikishi, one of the guardians of Buddha who stand at the entrance of many Buddhist temples.The Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park is a place to find peace, wisdom and healing.An historic addition to an already very special place.
To see photos that I took as the stream and observation platform were under construction, click here.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Sunlight was casting its spell on flowers, leaves and webs in the Alcazar Garden.
Stay tuned!
A massive, truly magnificent, 300 year old bronze Kannon statue debuted several days ago in a beautiful corner of the Japanese Friendship Garden, as well as their new sparkling stream . . . and today I took photos!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Harbor seals lie in the sun on Children’s Pool Beach. The Children’s Pool is closed to the public during pupping season.
Every so often I have to walk by the water in La Jolla. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Today I headed to The Children’s Pool to enjoy harbor seals, pelicans in flight, the mighty ocean, the rocky shoreline and blue sky. Pupping season has just begun (December 15 through May 15) and so Children’s Pool Beach is closed to the public.
The Children’s Pool was the gift of local philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1931. A concrete seawall was built to make the beach safe for public swimming.
Harbor seals began to use the beach in the 1990’s and over time sand has filled the swimming area. There has been a long running legal battle over the use of the beach.
The Children’s Pool also happens to be a popular destination of scuba divers because of nearby reefs.
Today people flock from far and wide to watch the seals from a safe distance.
Sitting on a bench overlooking The Children’s Pool, observing the resident colony of harbor seals.People look toward Children’s Pool from the shady green gazebo.People along the wall near the lifeguard station. Many tourists now travel to La Jolla just to see the local colony of harbor seals.The Children’s Pool breakwater was built in 1931. It was a gift to La Jolla by journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps.A colony of harbor seals suns on the sand near the seawall, which like the beach is off limits during pupping season.The seals move about from time to time. They turn on their sides, raise their heads and hind flippers, and inch forward on their stomachs.A lone harbor seal heads across the sand to the water’s edge by wriggling awkwardly on its belly.It swims out toward a nearby rock.With difficulty, a harbor seal inches up onto the large rock that lies just off the beach. (Sea lions, which sometimes share the beach, are much better climbers.)The perfect place for a peaceful nap!Looking west from the closed Children’s Pool toward the broad Pacific Ocean and gently breaking waves.Pelicans fly north. Scripps Pier and the scenic cliffs just south of Torrey Pines lie in the distance.The pelicans fly toward Seal Rock and Shell Beach, and distant jutting rocks west of La Jolla Cove.Looking west. Perhaps you can see why I love this place.Looking south toward Wipeout Beach.Another photo of the colony of harbor seals at The Children’s Pool in La Jolla.A young harbor seal enjoys a fine day on the beach.
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It’s late in the year and I’m feeling lazy. Time to go through thousands of old photos, to see if there are any I can use!
While searching through my computer, I rediscovered a folder of photos taken from various spots on the Embarcadero around nightfall. Some of the images are fairly striking. Here they are!
When these photographs were taken, I don’t remember. During this summer, I believe.
You might recognize the Marriott Marina, the Donal Hord sculpture Morning, harbor tour ships that take on passengers near the Broadway Pier, and an aircraft carrier docked across San Diego Bay at North Island.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Today I enjoyed a late autumn walk in Mission Trails Regional Park, a large open space preserve located in the City of San Diego.
I moved along the Visitor Center Loop Trail, gazing at mountains and trees and fluttering yellow and brown leaves.
The relatively easy 1.5 mile trail follows the San Diego River for a short distance. Just right for a thoughtful little hike through nature’s infinite beauty.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 