Ethereal Vistas

It was the day after the rare rainstorm in Southern California so the leftover puffy clouds and sky were breathtaking. I went out driving, camera in the passenger seat, looking for images that caught my eye - interesting combinations of shapes or colors - vistas that included those gorgeous clouds. What I found was this building, enveloped in the skyscape, and part of it too.

I love the way the building blends into the sky instead of competing with it for attention. It seems to be floating with the clouds and ascending into them.  The trees in the foreground, with their dark solidity, add to the feeling that the building is detached from the earth and is instead part of the sky.


This next picture was taken during a walk with my daughter.  What caught my eye about this building was the seeming impossibility of it.  It is like half a bridge, suspended in air, with nothing holding up the distant end.

The person at the end gives a sense of scale, and for me, a reassurance that the structure will hold.  A more subtle reading shows the "bridge" reaching for the sunset, as seen in the more golden light on the left.

This is, in fact, an observation platform, from which you can view the ocean, and Catalina on a clear day.  I am fascinated by this image in that I am afraid of heights, and to see people standing near the precipice (in my mind) give me butterflies.  Yet on that day, I climbed the stairs, and ventured out to the end myself, after taking this shot.  I felt strangely comfortable, as if there wasn't "nothing" below me. And the view was spectacular.