On Labor Day, my Photo Club had an outing up on the observation of the California Tower, part of the Museum of Man.
Below is a gallery of images, with more explanation below. As always, clicking on any of these images will launch the slideshow.
This was my second trip up the California Tower, and we picked a time much closer to sunset. Our tour lasted from 6:20 PM to 7:00 PM. The sunset in San Diego was approximately 7:08 PM, but with the onshore flow and marine layer, the light was out by the time we were packing up.
Summer weather prevailed, which meant no clouds, haze, and somewhat clear views. I tried to focus this time capturing the incoming planes to San Diego International Airport (Lindbergh Field), which fly low to the South of Balboa Park. I have stared at the California Tower from a Southwest Airlines windows seat many times.
After our tour ended, I did some more shooting with my friends from the photo club, including Ralph, Jonathan, and Tom. The architecture at twilight made for some amazing images, probably better than anything I shot in the California Tower!
I included more history in my last post on the California Tower, and if you are interested I encourage you to read more about it. It is a key landmark in Balboa Park, and it is a great service to the public that it can be visited regularly after being closed for 65 years. I still hope they will eventually open the next level observation deck above the current one. It is smaller but appears to offer nice views from even higher up.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the images!
T.M. Schultze is a San Diego-based photographer, traveller, and writer. He writes, photographs, and draws things of the outdoors that have inspired humans for thousands of years. He co-authored the Photographer’s Guide to Joshua Tree Park which can be purchased here.