Construction And New Street Lights

        Above we have a new building, hidden under a veil going up at the intersection of Park Blvd. & Island Ave. in downtown San Diego. I’m sure it won’t be long until the veil is lifted and we will see San Diego’s newest condo high-rise. The photo above shows the entire building including workers at the bottom installing a brand new traffic light. Below is a close up of the light installation, and below that is the street corner as viewed with google maps, when construction first began. Once construction is completed, I’ll take another photo. I like those before and after photos, so I think it’s neat when I get to do one of my own.

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Yellow Flowers Invade San Diego

        It seems to me that San Diego Has had a lot of rain in 2010. There have a been a few really big storms, and at least a handful of rainy days. For San Diego, that is a lot. Denver leads the nation for actual sunny days, but San Diego has so little rain that it seems like it’s sunny every day here. Anyway, all this water have brought yellow flowers to life all over San Diego county. The above shot is just a quick example of what San Diego residents have been seeing for over a month.

Desert Garden In Balboa Park

        In a post from back in March, I talked about how I was having difficulty getting really good and UNIQUE photos while inside Balboa Park. In particular, the unique part has really been kicking my ass. It seems that all the photos out there are taken in the part of the park that is on the west side of Park Blvd. Well, there is a sliver of Balboa Park that runs the whole length of the park, from the San Diego Zoo to the north to President’s Way to the south on the EAST side of Park Blvd. There is even a small bit of the park to the south of the Naval Medical Center. I decided I would concentrate on this eastern most part of the park on this day, and I’m glad I did because I found a fountain I’d never seen before and saw some wildlife too. I was pleased with the photowalk.
        The photo above shows the Desert Garden, at the end of the footbridge that crosses Park Blvd. Use this map of Balboa Park for reference.

The Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden

        For the photo above, we are looking north, the pedestrian bridge and the southern end of the Desert garden are in the background.

Roses In Balboa Park

        The Rose Garden is two circular areas, with the center of one being a fountain, while the other (pictured above) has a vine and flower covered gazebo for a centerpiece.

Veterans Museum And Memorial Center

        When you see this statue you are very close to the southeastern tip of Balboa Park. Just keep wandering past the Veterans Memorial and you will see a secret fountain… I never knew it was here until now. It seems that the official title for this area of the park is Administrative Courtyard.

Fountain Inside Administrative Courtyard

        This area with the fountain is wide open to the west, so the setting sun makes for some great lighting, should you happen to be here during golden hour.

Abandoned Bus Stop

        I can only guess that once upon a time, the number 7 SDMTS bus ran up through here. The number 7 still runs through Balboa Park, but it stays on Park Blvd, which is 250 yards away from this old, abandoned bus stop.

Rabbit, Behind The Bus Stop

        There was wildlife around this fountain, including a rabbit with flea covered ears. It felt like I was at a watering hole in Africa, except this journey was right in my own backyard, and I never knew it until today.

Blackbird In Balboa Park

        There were a couple of these birds calling to each other or to the world in general. There were a lot of birds.

Sunlight And Shade As Golden Hour Approaches

        This area is going to be my new launch off point my trips into Balboa Park for the time being. I usually start at the pedestrian bridge, but this new location is much more zen.

The Statue Surrounded By His Fountain

        There are spiderwebs on the statue in the center of the fountain. That is amazing to me how a spider was able to somehow make his or her way to the primo spot at the primo watering hole in the area.

Hummingbird Drinks In Balboa Park

        The shot above presented itself just as I was about to leave. It is my favorite one for the session, and since I am very happy with the other photos as well, it was a good day. It felt good to get some shots from Balboa Park that I like, and that are unique.

A Cactus In Balboa Park

        Just a quick post featuring a cactus in the Old World Garden of Balboa Park, in San Diego. It was broad daylight when I took this pic, but my camera settings seemed to give it a long exposure, nighttime look to it that I thought looked cool. I have a couple other post with photos from Balboa Park, so you should check them out. One post has a great pic of a bee on a flower, and can be seen here.

Femullet (Female With A Mullet) On The Bus Crossing Coronado Bridge

        Seeing a mullet in the wild is one thing, having one sit in front of you on the bus with the Coronado Bridge in the background out the window is a once in a lifetime opportunity photo op. Don’t believe me? OK then smarty pants, I challenge everyone on both of the internets to show me a photo of a woman, sporting a mullet (a femullet) with the Coronado Bridge in the background.

A Femullet (Female Mullet) With White Lace Gloves And Orange Fingernails

        This is an actual, real life woman that walks around Coronado with a mullet, purple one-piece miniskirt, white fingerless lace gloves and orange fingernails. I wish I could say more but I claim to be a photographer, not a writer.

Flamingos

        Last month I ran a trilogy of blog posts that featured photos I took at San Diego’s Wild Animal Park. I had some great pics of the butterfly jungle, birds, and the Animals of Africa exhibit. This post will feature a random assortment of photos that, for one reason or another I didn’t like. Mostly the problem was composition or the quality of the subject matter. At any rate, this post will contain those very photos that didn’t make it into the first round, yet I still wanted to give a chance to see the light of day. Yes, I know that on game day you don’t want to have to sit through the JV squad getting their mandatory play time, but even sporting policy will have to answer to me sooner or later.

Egret With Mating Plumage

Uh… No.

Feeding The Lorikeets

Somethimes Feathers Get Ruffled

Gorilla

Bring On The Giraffes

The King Of The Jungle, Or So She Thinks

Fire…

        My introduction to Technomania Circus was less than a year ago, and I will say now in plain sight of God and man that it has been an amazing and colorful year. Right here, in San Diego is a performing troupe of circus players that make their living as actors while providing entertainment on a monthly basis to the citizens of San Diego.

Blacklight…

        The show they performed on May 1, 2010 was aptly titled, “Variety And Blacklight Show” and it was a stellar, hilarious, fiery and musical ordeal. There was just so much happening during this show… There was an incredible amount of variety (go figure) but there was also a healthy dose of fire, that I don’t think the audience expecting, yet immediately embraced.

Variety

        The technomaniacs have been busy since I attended their last show, “Invasion of the Oojaians: A Blacklight and Fire Intergalactic Adventure.” They have a newly constructed and much larger stage, what seemed to me to be better lighting (regular & blacklight), and a great audio system that does double duty by playing show music as well as serving as a P.A. for the actors.

        Of course, before the show started, I had to make my way through the entrance to the ticket desk. It was while I was at the desk that I saw Paul Moeller, one of the resident technomaniacs getting ready for the show. He came right up to me and informed me that not only was I “on the list” for entry into the show, but I have also been given the title, “Official Photographer” for Technomania Circus, and he produced an official badge for me to wear! How cool is that? These guys are just so gracious and welcoming no matter who walks into their yard, but this gesture really is more than going the extra mile for a fan of the show. Thanks guys!

Technomania Circus Is Where We Dance

        This show was all over the map, all over the stage and even off the stage into the audience. What makes Technomania Circus better than a movie or other live theater venues is that they bring their energy right into your lap, and you as the audience are able to throw your energy right onto the stage. There is a perfect harmony between the performers and the audience that you won’t find anywhere else.

        Every time you go to a Technomania Circus show, you will see something you have never seen before. I have personally been around the world and back again, and I used to say I’d seen everything, but then I started going to these shows. The Devil himself walked out on stage, acknowledged us mere mortals, announced that he’s a drinker and a smoker, had one of his underworld minions give him a light, and then held a Q&A with the audience. After that, the Pope, God’s human representative on Earth joined the fallen angel on stage, answered a few questions and then broke out into song. Yep, that is just a small portion of my Saturday night, spending time watching things I have never seen before. Now, let me just say now that I am a photographer, so video and video editing are pretty much a foreign languages to me. So, with that in mind, the two video clips I’m including with this post are short & sweet… Because, uh… I don’t know how to mix and edit video yet. I’m learning, but until I’m ready to go prime-time with all of it, you will have to settle for erratic clips and shoddy editing. Please don’t blame my D5000 or Technomania Circus, just blame me! At least we can now say with certainty that the Pope does indeed wear a funny hat.

Masochist Tango

        Paul and Mary Moeller, pictured above are two of the best reasons to embrace music, performing arts, and Technomania Circus. They are two of the coolest cats I have ever met. They create and perform music, they dance, sing and entertain. On this particular night, they performed the “Masochist Tango” which had some hilarious lyrics, but I just don’t remember any of those lyrics now. The premise was eloquently simple and familiar: A woman sits inside a Starbucks, writing (a screenplay) on her Mac, when a man enters and lures her into an amazingly choreographed tango. It was a sexy and provocative dance, and we audience members were enthralled. What made this situation uniquely Technomania was that they both held their coffees while dancing with each other. It was hilarious because they both danced the tango while spilling coffee all over themselves, but remained oblivious to it the entire time. Looks of passion, wanting and desire were subverted by the roaring laughter of the audience.

How About A Little Fire, Scarecrow?

        I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… Fire is my favorite part of Technomania Circus. I could fill an entire blog, from beginning to end with photos of the technomaniacs flinging fire around the stage. When they were kids and their folks told them not to play with matches, I wonder what their collective response was. Do you remember all those things we were forbidden to do as kids? These guys make a living by doing all of those things!

        One of the regular acts at Technomania Circus is The Welderman. These are people that don fireproof clothing, throw fire around wherever and however they please while performing music for the masses. They will be competing at the 2010 World Telekinesis Competition next month. This is a competition for people that can control fire by using only the power of their minds. It’s great to know that a hometown San Diego hero will be tearing it up in a competition of people with kinetic abilities that far surpass my own.

Jon Juggles Fire

        For some reason the word “fire” was not included in the title of this show’s performance. So, that meant that all of us audience members didn’t expect a lot, or ANY fire as we walked in. Ha! There was fire at this show, and we loved it!

        Dr. Techno is the technomaniac that generally warms up the crowd, greets theater goers and owns a very loyal dog. Right here and now, I will give him credit for aligning the pieces that comprise the Technomania Circus… Everything from the venue, the talent, the bleacher seating and the very, very crazy bathroom. This guy actually has space pirates (and a space pirates theme song) perform at his theater! I will go out on a limb and say that NO ONE has ever been able to make that claim before.

        As mentioned earlier, there will be something at EVERY Technomania Circus show that you have never seen before. When I woke up on Saturday morning, I had no idea that later that night I would see a robot, dressed in Victoria’s Secret lingerie get fondled by another (presumably male) robot. That and the earlier mentioned appearance by The Devil & pope are just two of the MANY things I had never seen before this show. Besides being a very convenient location for those of us that take the trolley, Technomania Circus is just something that you find yourself wanting to go to and looking forward to. The circus lives at 2438 Commercial St. San Diego, in Logan Heights, right across from the 25th & Commercial Orange Line trolley stop. It is literally 15 feet away from the trolley stop, so there is no reason to think you can’t take public transportation there and back. They offer drinks, snacks t-shirts and buttons for sale, and they are all reasonably priced. Feel free to bring your own snacks or drinks, but be sure to keep your drinks in a brown paper bag *wink*. Anyway, I’ll wrap up this post with one more quick (and poorly shot) video of a break dancing alien as well as with my two favorite shots of the evening. Their next show is on June 5th, 2010 and it is called, “The Wild Wild REALLY Wild Western Circus.” I’ll see everyone there. Cheers!

Jon Blows Fire At Technomania Circus

Technomania Circus Is The Greatest Show On Earth

Follow The Smoke

        Heading home from work today, we saw a plume of dark smoke, on the south side of I-905 and decided to go investigate the source.

Authority Figures Control The Situation

        After jumping off the highway, we missed every single light on the way to the fire, so we missed the actual fire. It seems that it was a shed or detached garage that went up in smoke.

Firefighters Doing What They Do (After A Fire)

        Anyways, steering wildly off my homeward-bound course was a welcome diversion from my usual, uneventful ride home. Nothing photo-worthy happened after that. The bulls (San Diego trolley guards) were out in force at the Palomar station, and were rude, grabby and scared of my camera, but that’s nothing new.

Roadrunner

        I’ve seen roadrunners run around the road in Otay Mesa for two years, but never got a photo of one until today. There are at least three that look like this one, and another one that is bigger and is mostly blue. I haven’t seen the blue roadrunner for quite awhile.

A Roadrunner Stares Back

        Birds can really look weird when you happen to see them facing dead at you. Without their beaks to give a sense of depth, they almost have a dog snout. Well, this roadrunner snapshot made me laugh, so into the blog it goes.

San Diego’s Day At The Docks 2010

        I didn’t spend much time at this event, held last Sunday in San Diego Bay, but I did stick around long enough to book a $2 ticket for a boat ride around the bay. It was fun, and the weather, even though hazy was a perfect temperature.

Seals Living In San Diego Bay

        If this platform, adjacent to the Point Loma Submarine Base serves a purpose other than to allow seals to sunbathe, I couldn’t imagine what it could be. They have seabird neighbors, and boat riders like me to keep them company, so I don’t suppose it’s a bad life.