Sunset State Beach (just outside Watsonville, CA) was homebase for a three night camping trip last week. The area is an epicenter of commerical succulent growers and spreads across California's Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Monterey counties. We touched them all. Greenhouses in particular are high on my list of photography subjects these days and they come in all shapes, styles, sizes and levels of beautiful decay. The one constant is they sometimes result in a heaping serving of semi-abstraction material.
The older, the grungier, the better!
I waited patiently till our way home to check out a spot that's been on mine and Carol's radar for quite awhile —
The Highway 92 Succulent Gardens (just outside of Half Moon Bay). We've passed the place several times - but usually while rushing our way to or from some destination. 'Holy hothouse Batman' — the place is a mecca for greehouses. I had found the motherlode!
Oh, and it ain't too bad for succulent lovers either.
Beyond that peak experience we found time along with our traveling companions (Terri Griffin, Joan and Ted Berger) to visit the stomping grounds of Edward and Brett Weston — the impeccable Point Lobos State Natural Reserve right outside Carmel, CA. We visited a favorite of Terri's, the wonderful Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve and even squeezed in a 'touch and go' peek at what's left of the historic Fort Ord Army Base.
Photography-wise, it was all about the greenhouse/found art though. I find these subjects (on their own) continue to offer up numerous notes of old-world textile visuals, vintage architectural forms and even maintaining a small connection with nature via the plants they house. Within my own pursuits of a self-defined abstraction genre, greenhouses have become a real fav.
Right up there with dry-dock boat hulls and fish bins!
