Tag: reflection

A quiet December morning on the Broadway Pier.

It's early December in San Diego. JOY has returned to the foot of Broadway Pier for the holiday season.
JOY has returned to the foot of Broadway Pier for the holiday season.

It’s early December and San Diego’s latest rainstorm has passed. This morning I walked out onto the Broadway Pier.

What did I see?

A United States Coast Guard buoy tender is docked at Broadway Pier.
A United States Coast Guard buoy tender is docked at Broadway Pier.
It appears a navigational buoy is being replaced in the bay, or the ocean off San Diego. A very unusual sight!
It appears a navigational buoy is being replaced in the bay, or perhaps in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego. A very unusual sight!
A reflection in a puddle of downtown high-rises.
A reflection in a silver puddle of downtown high-rises.
Looks like a food truck might be missing their menu board!
Looks like a food truck might be missing their menu board!
Early morning at the end of Broadway Pier. All is quiet.
A little after sunrise at the end of Broadway Pier. All is quiet.
Dew drops on the outdoor chairs and tables.
Dew drops on the outdoor chairs and tables.
Here comes the Coronado Ferry, passing the USS Midway Museum.
Here comes the Coronado Ferry, passing the USS Midway Museum. Not many passengers this early in the day.
A gull takes flight as I turn on the pier back toward Broadway. Time to catch the trolley for work.
A gull takes flight as I turn on the pier to head back toward Broadway. Time to catch the trolley for work.

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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!

Fascination, reflection, and a Recovered Stream.

I was getting ready to board a trolley this evening at America Plaza when activity in a window caught my eye.

A person inside the nearby Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego gallery was working above a small planet amid water-like artwork!

The title of the coming exhibition is Oscar Romo: Recovered Stream. According to the museum website: This fall and winter MCASD will present multiple talks by distinguished scientists who will share their knowledge about climate change in conjunction with the participatory exhibition Oscar Romo: Recovered Stream.

With some searching on the internet, I learned environmentalist Oscar Romo is a professor at UC San Diego. His area of expertise is coastal and marine ecosystem conservation, using a natural systems design perspective. He has a special interest in the San Diego-Tijuana border region.

The upcoming talks should be very interesting!

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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!

A story about stars, dust and memory.

Stars.

Very early this morning I woke from an unsettling dream. Parts of it coalesced into a short story that I finished writing a few minutes ago.

The title of the story is Vacuuming the Dust. This one might be difficult to read. It’s about denial. It’s about stars, dust and memory.

I think the story is done, but I might change a few words when I read it again.

If you’d like to read about life and time’s passage, click here.

A silvery, sparkling tree in Little Italy.

Stand in certain spots on the North Embarcadero, look east toward Little Italy, and your eyes might be dazzled by a sparkling tree on a large wall.

The glittery abstract tree decorates the west side of the Broadstone Little Italy building, near the corner of Grape Street and California Street. The branches of the mirror mosaic rise above train and trolley tracks. As the sun descends toward San Diego Bay, the silvery tree really shimmers and shines.

I’ve learned that the artist’s name is Stephanie Clair and that her piece is called The Shimmer Tree!

The Shimmer Tree, public art in San Diego's Little Italy neighborhood by Stephanie Clair.
The Shimmer Tree, public art in San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood by Stephanie Clair.

UPDATE!

Here’s a pic I took a couple years later over the railroad tracks from a different angle…

IMG_7665z

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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!

Lines, curves, contrasts and mysteries.

A mazelike X by artist Bob Matheny. His works of Almost Anonymous, mind-teasing art can now be absorbed at the San Diego History Museum.
A mazelike X by artist Bob Matheny. His works of Almost Anonymous, mind-teasing art can now be absorbed at the San Diego History Museum.

I took these unusual photographs yesterday during my afternoon walk through Balboa Park.

Each image seemed uniquely interesting to me for one reason or another. My eyes were drawn to lines, curves, contrasts and mysteries.

The passage of time glimpsed underfoot. Contrasted modes of decay.
The passage of time glimpsed underfoot. Contrasted modes of decay.
An elemental drama. Trees battle sky.
An elemental drama. Trees battle sky.
In one photo nature subdues architecture.
In one photo nature subdues architecture.
The iconic California Tower is swallowed by vertical distance.
The iconic California Tower is swallowed by vertical distance.
Looking through an arch of the California Quadrangle toward the original Administration Building, first building completed for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.
Looking through an arch of the California Quadrangle toward the original Administration Building, the first building completed for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.
Simple lines and curves, a small place in the park to rest.
Simple lines and curves: a small place in the park to rest.
Eyes are drawn in every direction in a nook beside the San Diego Museum of Art.
Eyes are pulled in every direction in a nook beside the San Diego Museum of Art.
Wild beauty is aesthetically arranged at the Japanese Friendship Garden.
Wild beauty is aesthetically arranged at the Japanese Friendship Garden.
The Japanese Friendship Garden, where reflection becomes meditation.
The Japanese Friendship Garden, where reflection becomes meditation.

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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!

More visual complexity downtown.

My camera was busy yesterday.

Not only did I take some magical photos of Balboa Park after work, but before work I snapped cool, complex images of downtown San Diego.

My eyes were searching everywhere as I walked from Eighth Avenue on Cortez Hill west down Ash and Beech Street.

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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!

Visual complexity at Cesar Chavez Park pier.

During a recent walk out onto the pier at Cesar Chavez Park, my eyes were dazzled by the surrounding complexity.

The cranes of nearby barges and distant shipyards . . . the curving San Diego-Coronado Bridge . . . the various structures, rails and benches on the pier . . . all of these elements combined with reflections and shadows to create interesting geometric patterns.

I cropped and altered the contrast of many photos to make them even more visually abstract and thought-provoking.

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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!

New sights on a morning walk downtown.

A colorful canvas in the window of James Watts' studio on Seventh Avenue. I don't recall seeing this cool artwork before.
A colorful canvas in the window of James Watts’ studio on Seventh Avenue. I don’t recall seeing this artwork before.

This morning I walked south down Seventh Avenue, from the top of Cortez Hill to Petco Park.

I was happy to spot some new (and old) cool sights along this stretch of downtown San Diego. So I took photographs!

Some street art recently painted on a sidewalk utility box. I Love Downtown San Diego.
Some street art recently painted on a sidewalk utility box. I Love Downtown San Diego.
Complex reflection in the windows of the building at 701 B Street, which has undergone some upgrades.
Complex reflection in the windows of the building at 701 B Street, which has undergone some upgrades, including this west entrance.
Looking north up Seventh Avenue through San Diego's Financial District.
Looking north up Seventh Avenue through downtown San Diego’s Financial District.
Crane swings a load above the Bosa Tower construction site, with the old Hotel Churchill sign in the background.
Crane swings a load above the Bosa Tower construction site, with the old Hotel Churchill sign in the background.
Advertisements peeling from a construction site fence.
Advertisements peeling from another construction site fence.
A huge mural is now being painted on the rear of the Moxy San Diego Gaslamp Downtown! It appears to depict the Gaslamp Quarter.
A huge mural is now being painted on the rear of the Moxy San Diego Gaslamp Downtown! This cool new mural appears to depict part of the Gaslamp Quarter.
Reflections on the shiny Sempra Energy building, with the historic old 1887 Clermont Hotel in the foreground.
Morning reflections on the shiny Sempra Energy building, with the historic old 1887 Clermont Hotel in the foreground.
A new shirt with a West Coast State of Mind, in a window of the Padres Team Store in the old Western Metal Supply Building.
A new shirt with a West Coast State of Mind, in a window of the Padres Team Store, which is located in the Western Metal Supply Building.
Palm trees reflected in the glassy, very modern Omni San Diego Hotel.
Palm trees reflected in the glassy, very modern Omni San Diego Hotel.

UPDATE!

I took a photo of the Moxy mural days later when it was finished…

IMG_1180z

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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!

Unfolding Humanity appears at Maker Faire!

A couple months ago I blogged about the debut of a fascinating dodecahedron sculpture called Unfolding Humanity. The San Diego Geometry Lab had begun building their project by a parking lot at University of San Diego.

Today I finally saw the interactive metal sculpture completed! It was among the many cool inventions on display at 2018 Maker Faire San Diego in Balboa Park!

If you want to learn more about Unfolding Humanity–the mathematics behind it, and how it’s symmetry and complexity is similar to the structure of the universe–please check out my earlier blog post here, or visit the artwork’s extremely interesting website here.

I learned from Diane Hoffoss, Associate Professor of Mathematics at USD, that the San Diego Geometry Lab might be building additional similar projects in the future. Probably every other year. Because it’s quite an undertaking!

I also learned that many people enjoyed stepping inside Unfolding Humanity during Burning Man! Someone even performed magic tricks inside it!

This is what I saw at Maker Faire San Diego today…

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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!

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Golden light splashes upon two famous ships.

Sunlight brightens west-facing art glass windows on the passenger deck of the steam ferry Berkeley.
Sunlight brightens west-facing art glass windows inside the passenger deck of the steam ferry Berkeley.

The days are becoming shorter.

Hoping to enjoy every last drop of daylight, this evening I lingered by San Diego Bay.

As the sun neared the horizon, golden light splashed upon two famous museum ships: the steam ferry Berkeley, and the aircraft carrier USS Midway.

The beautiful art glass windows of the Berkeley remind one of the glowing stained glass found inside cathedrals.
The amazing art glass windows of the Berkeley remind one of glowing stained glass found inside cathedrals.
Light streams up along the historic ship's simple ceiling.
Light streams up along the historic ferryboat’s ceiling.
Splashes of sunlight reflect from the floor, woodwork and empty benches inside the passenger deck of Berkeley.
Splashes of golden sunlight reflect from the floor, woodwork and empty benches inside the passenger deck of Berkeley.
The sun nears the horizon beyond the USS Midway Museum, reflecting from tranquil San Diego Bay.
The sun nears the horizon beyond the USS Midway Museum, reflecting like a band of gold on San Diego Bay.
Late sunlight splashes the immense bow of the USS Midway with gold.
Golden sunlight splashes the immense bow of the USS Midway.

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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!