Ventura and Santa Barbara

On Saturday morning I went to photograph Faulkner Farm. It was opening day of the pumpkin season and they were just setting up the gift shop as I arrived. I hoped to capture some pumpkin patch and barn landscapes without too many people getting into my images. Compared to my previous visit to Faulkner Farm in 2005, this year there are a variety of different pumpkins available from white pumpkins to golden hubbard squash. I also made sure to photograph the Faulkner House this time as well since the house was in shadow last time I tried to photograph it.

The guy collecting admission in the parking lot mentioned that was a retired photography pro that once attended Brooks Institute of Photography. He specialized portraits and weddings before leaving the business several years ago because he wasn't able to adapt to the onset of digital imaging. I kind of felt sorry for the guy because he said he didn't grow up using computers so it made the learning curve too difficult for him to keep up with.

After Faulkner Farm, I went over to Mission San Buenaventura. I had previously tried to photograph the mission in 2005 after photographing the farm but I couldn't find the entrance. The entrance was through their gift shop store on Main Street... This time I made sure to not repeat the mistake.

I didn't find Mission San Buenaventura to be that photogenic compared to some of the other 14 California Missions I have photographed. Complicating matters was a wedding about to take place in the chapel. I sat in the back waiting for the wedding to end so I could walk around freely. Unfortunately the lights were turned off once the wedding ended so I wasn't really able to get good chapel photos. In the gift shop museum however I found the old bookshelf display to be interesting. There were bibles dating from the 1770's. I assume that Father Junipero Serra himself probably used them himself at some point as Mission San Buenaventura was the 9th and final mission that he founded during his lifetime.

I went up to Santa Barbara afterwards to scope out the area around Stearn's Wharf. The light was too harsh when I got there so I drove through State Street and ended up at Mission Santa Barbara. The famous exterior and rose garden is best photographed early in the morning so obviously I wasn't able to do that. The door to the church was open however so I went in. The church is as beautiful as Mission San Juan Bautista's but it has none of the ambience. The reason why I say that is because Santa Barbara is overrun with tourists. I'd been to the Santa Barbara Mission twice before but it wasn't as crowded as it was on Saturday. People seemingly just kept coming in to take snapshots or walking through. When I photograph the mission churches I keep a low profile and stay out of the way. When tour buses come however, the tourists usually don't respect others right to privacy. I saw people walking through the pews shooting pictures right in front of people who were paying their respects. It was madness.

I went down to Stearns Wharf afterward, which wasn't quite as bad of an experience but still touristy. I was a bit confused at seeing all the cars come and go because there really isn't all that much to see or do at the wharf other than a whale watching tour and the Natural History museum. About an hour later I drove down to the Ventura Pier in time for the sunset.

My parents used to take my brother and I fishing on the Ventura Pier when we were growing up. On our last family visit probably about twelve years ago, my dad caught a shark. It was so big that four other fishermen had to climb over the railing to help pull it up. We gave it to them because we didn't really know what to do with it. Other fishes we caught in past also include barricuda which we did bring home but I don't think we ate it.

When I arrived at the pier, the sun was almost setting but not quite so I walked around the beach for a bit until the light got warmer then I proceeded to walk onto the pier. Half of the waterfront was roped off due to a fundraiser which I heard was being hosted by Democrats. I took some landscape pictures of that from the pier and a number of other pier pictures before it got dark. The light wasn't all that spectacular since the air quality was so clear but it was alright. Ventura Pier isn't touristy unlike Santa Monica or even Stearns Wharf so it was definitely more pleasant to shoot.

Photo of Ventura Pier Sunset, California

This year I've been re-visiting a lot of the places I had fond memories of as a kid and have been making an effort to photograph them. Ventura Pier was definitely one of those places. Last month when I went to photograph the Redondo Beach Pier, that was my first visit in about twenty years. It's been interesting to see how these places have changed over the years.