Imperial Beach’s Dinosaur Cage At Sunset

        The Dinosaur Cage, as it’s referred to is a defunct HF radio listening station the Navy constructed in the 1960′s to detect, monitor and plot the location of Soviet submarines. There are 14 other AN/FRD-10 stations around the world, but only two, in Canada are still operating. The largest ring is 845 feet in diameter and the smaller inner ring is 747.5 feet in diameter. The Dinosaur Cage is on the Southern tip of Coronado in Imperial Beach, CA an area that I go through often, and little did I know it would drive traffic to my blog.
        Looking at web traffic statistics for my blog is very, very helpful for creating content that people will find and enjoy browsing through. For example, I have discovered, by looking at my web traffic stats that a lot of people discover my site by searching for “dinosaur cage.” I have a few other pics and post that feature the Dinosaur Cage, so the search engine found that content that lead to my site. People are interested in photos of the giant, round antenna and information about what it is. What that means for me as a photographer and blogger is that I can create a post with content that already know people are searching for.
        So what do I do? I take a great sunset shot of the Dinosaur Cage sitting majestically on the southern tip of Coronado, write a couple paragraphs that include the words “dinosaur cage” a few times, include some quick and helpful facts and then throw in a link to a site that can give a complete description of the Dinosaur Cage. That means that from now on, when some one searches for “dinosaur cage” they’ll find this post along with the picture. That’s the nut’s and bolts of SEO and it is infinitely better at driving traffic than whatever metadata can be attached to a photo. Useful content will drive the traffic that leads people (potential clients) to the photography, which is what I actually want. Photographers! You must have keyword dense content on your site or no one will ever see your photography.

20 Seconds Of Open Shutter & A Desalination Plant (I Think)

        If you stand at the the Southern tip of San Diego Bay and face North, you will see a factory at your 10 o’clock. As far as I know, and judging by the piles of salt around the factory, this factory is involved in the removal of salt from ocean water. I suppose the salt is then exported to the salt deprived countries of the work, and the water deprived people of San Diego. I was 6000 feet away from the factory when I snapped this pic. Super-zoom cameras are the shit, right?

Golden Hour In San Diego

        Same factory, seen while the sun is casting it’s final rays for the day upon it. Ever since my tripod got smashed to Hell by a pack of rabid wolves over the summer, I have had to hand hold all my shots. Easy during the day but less than optimal during the night.

30 Second Exposure Of San Diego’s Silver Strand Dinosaur Cage

        I set my camera on a bench, near the bike path, pressed the shutter and let the magic happen.

Imperial Beach’s Dinosaur Cage

        I’m still hoping for my money shot of the Dinosaur Cage, located on the Southern end of San Diego Bay. I like what I’ve done but I think something better is in store.

Foreground: All that remains of the I.B Limited Miniature Railroad. Background: Dinosaur Cage.

The Navy’s 800 foot diameter dinosaur cage on the southern tip of Coronado Bay has contained some of the more vicious breeds of dinosaurs ever created through genetic engineering.  From 1964-1999, the USN denied the very existence of the cage and it’s contents, despite being located in plain view of the busiest beach in all of California.

In the late 1980′s an author named Michael Crichton was marooned on Coronado during a bridge closure and while exploring the Silver Strand in that interim, came upon the cage, and was inspired to write a novel that would ultimately force the United States Government to admit the existence of the cage, and the poor location they selected to place it.

You see, after having George Lucas read “Jurassic Park” to him as a bedtime story, Steven Spielberg decided to make a movie about dinosaurs…  REAL dinosaurs.  Spielberg and crew managed to steal a few dinosaurs from the cage, film them for Jurassic Park and expose the truth to the world.  Forced with seeing dinosaurs on the big screen that looked exactly like dinosaurs living in the cage the Navy claimed didn’t exist was just too much evidence.  In 1999 the Navy admitted the cage was there, executed the dinosaurs and abandoned the site.

Becoming smaller & smaller in our minds ever since, the site was then used as the location for a beach side miniature railroad, but was destroyed in 2003 by miniature plane enthusiasts during The Centennial of Flight Celebration Riots.