Capturing a scene that pulls me in deeper every time I gaze into it. A sunset reflected in the waves of the Pacific Ocean in an abstract, conceptual, dream-like state, using intentional camera movement. I captured this image at Crystal Cove Historic District - my heart's home, as I grew up with a small cottage here, and my family goes back five generations to the 1930s here.
My story at Crystal Cove is as long as my life. As an infant, I napped at my great-grandparent's house while my parents were on the beach. Their cottage was called "The Whistle Stop," as my grandfather was a superintendent of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Their cottage still stands as it is part of the well-known Beachcomber Restaurant.
As a young girl, I spent my days here when it was a private beach - collecting sea shells at low tide, playing in the tide pools, riding in the bucket of a bulldozer down the beach as the groundskeeper cleaned up seaweed for the residents, watching horses and riders go back and forth all day long on the sand...nights spent with bonfires, porch swings, and falling asleep to the waves. It was as magical as it sounds.
The area and cottages are now preserved under the National Historic Preservation Act. The area looks the same now as it did in the 1940s and 50s when my dad spent his days there. The cottages have been restored and I still spend about 2-3 weeks a year in the area, photographing this home of mine. I am in the process of collecting all the family photos from the 1940s on and have about 1,000 images to go through of my own. Eventually, there will be a book, and I cannot wait to write it and use our family images and much of my own photography. The whole story is to come...