Tag: unusual

Cool photo memories from January 2015.

Many bloggers periodically “reblog” their own material from years gone by. That way new readers have a window into the past.

Now that Cool San Diego Sights is well over six years old, I thought it might be fun to do something similar!

Starting today, once every month I’ll feature photos taken five years in the past. I’ll select material that is particularly interesting, unique or unusual! Keep in mind, some of my photographs from back then are less refined. They weren’t framed quite as carefully, or adjusted for contrast or sharpness.

Following are six links to select blog posts from January 2015…

Click for some fun!

Our Silences and precious freedom of speech.

Priest sprinkles startled pets with holy water!

Grass grows again at historic Lane Field!

1915 Road Race vintage car show in Balboa Park!

Timeline shows history of San Diego’s Embarcadero.

Historic reopening of California Tower in Balboa Park.

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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!

Nine mysterious shadows in San Diego!

Mystery Shadow #1

Ready to have some fun?

Can you identify the location of each shadow?

Here are nine photos of mysterious shadows that I took in the past couple weeks.

All are from walks through downtown or Balboa Park.

Mystery Shadow #2
Mystery Shadow #3
Mystery Shadow #4
Mystery Shadow #5
Mystery Shadow #6
Mystery Shadow #7
Mystery Shadow #8
Mystery Shadow #9

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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 fun photos of unique city doors!

Every once in a blue moon I post photos of unique doors that I come across during my city walks. Some of these doors can be really unusual. You can check out two of my past door collections here and here.

Well, here’s another fun batch!

All of these photographs were taken around downtown San Diego–East Village, the Gaslamp Quarter and Little Italy–in the past few days.

If you’re familiar with the city, you might recognize a few of these doors!

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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!

Public art at Liberty Station invites interaction.

Facetime is a site-specific public art piece that offers three separate spaces for both interaction and contemplation, while providing temporary shelter.
Facetime is a site-specific public art piece that offers three separate spaces for both interaction and contemplation, while providing temporary shelter.

Very cool new public art was installed at Liberty Station this summer. I saw it for the first time last weekend while I experienced the La Jolla Playhouse’s outdoor WOW festival.

The public art is titled Facetime. It was created by Ocean Beach artist Miki Iwasaki. Three angular sculptures made of corten steel contain seats, inviting face to face human interaction.

I watched a couple enter one shelter, promptly pull out phones and bow their heads.

At least they sat near one another.

Facetime on grass near walkways at Liberty Station.
Facetime on grass near walkways at Liberty Station.
Instead of speaking face to face, two people stare silently down at their phones.
Instead of speaking face to face, two people stare silently down at their phones.
Miki Iwasaki. Facetime. August 2019. Corten steel with seating elements. In partnership with Mingei International Museum.
Miki Iwasaki. Facetime. August 2019. Corten steel with seating elements. In partnership with Mingei International Museum.
Materials will patinate over time, enhancing the visible connection to natural forces and site context.
Materials will patinate over time, enhancing the visible connection to natural forces and site context.
Three can sit near each other in this shady sculpture and share an experience.
Three can sit near each other in this shady sculpture and share an experience.
Facetime is public art located in Liberty Station's ARTS DISTRICT.
Facetime is public art located in Liberty Station’s ARTS DISTRICT.
Cool public art invites human interaction.
Cool public art invites human interaction.

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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!

A slightly unusual morning by the water.

A seagull hopes for a morning morsel while I eat breakfast outdoors on the Embarcadero, not far from the USS Midway.
A seagull hopes for a morning morsel while I eat breakfast outdoors on the Embarcadero, not far from the USS Midway.

This morning I walked along the Embarcadero, from Broadway Pier to Tuna Harbor.

My camera captured some of the usual beauty, plus a few unusual images!

Research vessel JOIDES Resolution (Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling), a scientific drilling ship used by the International Ocean Discovery Program, docked in San Diego.
Research vessel JOIDES Resolution (Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling), a scientific drilling ship used by the International Ocean Discovery Program, docked in San Diego.
Here come Cabrillo, the Coronado Ferry, across a very smooth San Diego Bay.
Here comes Cabrillo, the Coronado Ferry, across a very smooth San Diego Bay.
Someone exercises by the water on a beautiful early San Diego morning.
Someone exercises by the water on a beautiful early San Diego morning.
Some colorful lobster traps were stacked at the edge of the parking lot beside Tuna Harbor.
Some colorful lobster traps were stacked at the edge of the parking lot beside Tuna Harbor.
Strange reflections on the smooth water of Tuna Harbor.
Mysterious reflections on the still water of Tuna Harbor.
Trees and downtown buildings upside down on the water.
Trees and downtown buildings upside down on the water.
A worker casually stands on the plank above the water. An odd and mysterious image!
A worker casually stands on the plank above the water. A rather strange image!

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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!

Strangely beautiful rusted chains on a barge.

I know, Cool San Diego Sights is supposedly dormant now. But today I enjoyed a very pleasant evening beside San Diego Bay, and by habit I pulled out my camera.

I photographed some strangely beautiful rusted chains (and other odd bits of iron) at the end of the Maritime Museum’s barge!

Looking skyward inside Smart Corner.

Today I sat on a bench waiting for a trolley at the City College station. This unique trolley station is located in the middle of a two tower condo building called Smart Corner.

Suddenly I had to yawn deeply. I tilted my head way back. Above me, the complex pattern of windows, jagged shadows and reflections appeared unreal!

Right then I knew I had to take a few photos.

Here I am, looking “skyward” while sitting inside Smart Corner!

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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!

Walking up the Snake Path at UCSD.

If you dare, walk with me up the Snake Path at UCSD. We will proceed from innocence to knowledge.

We’ll begin at a spot near the Jacobs School of Engineering, then head west up a hill toward the amazing Geisel Library. Our path is the winding 560-foot length of a scaly snake.

Snake Path, part of the UC San Diego Stuart Collection, was created by Alexis Smith in 1992. The scales of the snake are hexagonal pieces of colored slate.

We’ll pass a monumental granite book, none other than Milton’s Paradise Lost. On the cover is engraved: “And wilt thou not be loathe to leave this Paradise, but shalt possess a Paradise within thee, happier far.”

We’ll linger at a bench in a small Garden of Eden. Written on the bench are Thomas Gray’s words: “Yet ah why should they know their fate/When sorrow never comes too late/And happiness too swiftly flies/Thought would destroy their Paradise/No more, where ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise.”

Toward innocence or knowledge. Which direction is best?

UPDATE!

I took more pics of the Snake Path with a different camera during a UCSD walk a few years later…

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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!

Somebody lost their heads by the sidewalk!

A couple of heads are missing! I’ve discovered two strange, disembodied heads sitting on the ground by the sidewalk!

I observed that first rather fierce-looking head early this afternoon as I rode on a bus down Pacific Highway, just north of the Old Town Transit Center. (Why was I on the bus? I had several adventures this morning in North County! Stay tuned for more cool blog posts!)

The second head, which looks kind of like a painted Dia de los Muertos skull, was discovered beside a sidewalk about a week ago as I walked through Mission Valley on my way to work!

Has anyone out there lost their head? Or heads?

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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 (and have more fun) 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!