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The Getty Villa

By Patricia On January 16, 2012 In California, Culture, Photography With No Comments Permanent Link to The Getty VillaPermalink

Efforts to find culture were renewed this long weekend, as we headed to the Getty Villa in Malibu — the museum J. Paul Getty built to house the items of his collection that belong to antiquity. The place itself was built to resemble the Villa dei Papyri, the Villa where they invented Papyrus font. No, no, not really — it was a villa near Mount Vesuvius where they found a bunch of papyrus scrolls.

The Villa does a brilliant job of adding context to the collection pieces. A visitor can easily picture the life led by those lucky enough to live in these type of villas and have busts made in their liking (you know, the 1% of antiquity).

I was honestly disappointed by the Architecture Tour, and although the guide was a lovely older gentleman who apparently is somehow related to J. Paul Getty, there were few if any of the more intricate architectural details we were hoping for, like exactly what type of columns, marbles, etc, were used, or which styles were more Roman or Greek (my archeology professor would’ve been proud). I guess I shouldn’t complain about a free tour.

We checked out The Victorious Youth — one of the last remaining bronze statues from antiquity (the others were melted along that wrecked path of time and used for bullets and other weaponry in different wars). The statue was found at sea off the coast of Italy in 1964, and purchased by the museum. The controversy behind the Victorious Youth is that Italy wants it back alleging that former curators of the museum were trafficking stolen antiques.

Regardless, the Getty Villa is a beautiful place to spend an afternoon, imagining the life you could’ve led (or perhaps you did lead if you believe in reincarnation) while a rich Roman in 500 B.C. Coupled with the vast collection of art, glass, jewelry, and even mummies, it’s definitely worth the $15 parking fee. The Villa itself is technically free, although you do need to reserve tickets in advance and print them out.

I still feel we didn’t check it all out, and we had to hurry through at the end, so I’m looking forward to going back again.

Faces from the Crowd

By Patricia On November 30, 2011 In California, Photography With No Comments Permanent Link to Faces from the CrowdPermalink

This post is a cleanse of sorts, to rid myself of the guilt from not posting anything about a great weekend down in San Diego for the America’s Cup World Series. It’s impossible to take a bad picture of an AC45, that ridiculous boat. Instead, I wanted to do a quick post of portraits. Even without knowing the people in the portraits, you can interpret bits of who they are, along with snippets of a thought — droplets in the narrative.

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Winds and the Fulmore Race

By Patricia On October 25, 2011 In Photography, Sailing With No Comments Permanent Link to Winds and the Fulmore RacePermalink

There is a sound, created as the wind touches these curved, meticulously laid out surfaces. Of course sailing is an art, and a romantic one in theory — harnessing this invisible force and moving, moving moving. Two hundred years ago, skillful sailing could win and end wars: sailing had a purpose. Does it still, other than resetting our inner compass as Cheryl would say? Patrick O’brian often wrote, through his Stephen Maturin character, about Captains Aubrey’s obsession of sailing from point A to point B in the fastest, most efficient way, be damned all wonders passed and ignored. Golden coasts, undiscovered species, landscapes seen once in a lifetime, they all float next to a ship and then behind it, buried in the wake often never to be seen again. If it is romance we are aiming for, sailing is a metaphor on the movement of life. For a while things are next to us, but just for a moment, and then they’re bobbing in our wake, out of our lives. We keep moving, so long as there is wind.

Wind is part of the story.

Photos from the Fulmore Race from Santa Barbara to Pelican Bay:


Departing Santa Barbara Yacht Club, destination Pelican Bay.


At the start with Radio Flyer, left, and Rush Street

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Busy, beautiful weekends

By Patricia On October 13, 2011 In Amazing!, California, Photography, Sailing, Santa Barbara, Travels With No Comments Permanent Link to Busy, beautiful weekendsPermalink

Every once in a while, you come across these perfect weekends spent not only surrounded by incredible scenery and weather, but by amazing people. In my last trip up to Santa Barbara, I met Doug, who sails with Sleeper — a Lindenberg 26. He arranged for me to come up this weekend, basically for a trial run — to see if I was game enough to go on an overnight race out to Santa Cruz island this upcoming weekend.

I left a little later than I would’ve liked, so my choices leaving Santa Monica were to sit in traffic on the 405 or to sit in traffic on the PCH.

Obviously, I chose the PCH. It’s a gorgeous drive north, first through the coast and then some picturesque farmland.

I stayed with the co-owner of Sleeper, Cheryl, in her stunning Santa Barbara home. I walked through the door, and was speechless with the view.

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Time Capsule

By Patricia On September 12, 2011 In Photography With No Comments Permanent Link to Time CapsulePermalink

Sometime in July or August 2001, my parents took a quick trip to New York City. Ever since my first visit, when I was 13 years old, we loved going up there to visit. Before September 11, 2001, I must have visited at least 5 times. I swore to myself that one day I would live there. I would be a hip Manhattanite walking amidst skyscrapers with my best black power suit, pushing silly tourists out of my way. The more I visited, the more torturous it became that I did not live there. Then, the last time I was up there, I said I would never return unless it was to live there.

It never happened.

NYC and I just grew apart. I realized I was more of a West Coast person than an East Coast person. It was an unspoken breakup, like two people just slowly growing apart. There was no drama and no fights, just an abyss of time and distance. Words about 9/11, I have none to add — instead I have images of a grand love affair, the more poignant of which was taken by my father in the evening of a summer day in 2001, as his plane approached La Guardia Airport.

People and landscapes change, and they end. And all you have left are images of an evening or day, recorded in some way — in a photo or a memory. Take a second and record them, because you might want to remember them when they’re gone. And there’s a chance that sooner, rather than later, they will be.

P.S. My dad wants me to mention that the photo was taken with a Canon AV-1 film camera with a 1.4 – 50mm lens.

Dork.

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