2014 Photography Challenge- A Moment in Time (11:00 p.m.)

Here is the last photo of my yearlong photography challenge. I've had an amazing time doing this alongside my photography partners-in-crime Cyrena & Sarah. This has been a fun experience and I look forward to seeing what we decide on doing in 2015. Stay tuned for more on that. In the meantime, read up about what happened last Saturday...

At 11:00 a.m., way back in the beginning of June, I found myself on top of the Santa Monica Ferris wheel. Because I thought ahead to the end of this challenge and thought finishing this riding on top of the Ferris wheel on a Saturday night in December would be a very fun way to cap this off.

Even though my event planning mind had thought this through and verified that, weather permitting, the Ferris wheel would be open until 12:00 a.m., I didn't call to verify the hours (as suggested). I had a few things going on (like hosting the 9th annual Mac off earlier that evening for 45 freaking people!) and just went for it. Unfortunately once we got there, we discovered that they wanted to shut the ride down at 11:00 p.m., which meant they needed the ride cleared of passengers by then.

It was a pretty big bummer and I was disappointed that I had dragged Katie and our friend Mark along for this photo excursion, only to be turned away. But. I realized I could run into the same problem this upcoming week and decided to just take a photo of the same view but from the Pier level as opposed to from the top of the Ferris Wheel. So you'll notice that the photos don't exactly line up (like at all), but it's the same general view. And that just has to be enough for my Type-A personality.

Here's what 11:00 p.m. looked like in Santa Monica last Saturday night:

The pier itself was actually kinda busy still. And it was a cold night, for Santa Monica. (Remember, I've now lived in California for 14 years. My ability to live in and survive a New Hampshire winter is long gone. And I'm okay with that). But that didn't prevent people from playing out on the sand and looking at the waves (out of the frame of this photo). 

Here's the side by side a.m./p.m. comparison (remember to click on the image to make it bigger):

Five things I noticed between the two photos:

1. Because of the different vantage point in the p.m. photo, the one lifeguard tower is way more prominent as opposed to the a.m. photo where they're dotted in a cool line along the coast.
2. I like how the lights along the hill in the p.m. photo makes that geography more prominent. The haze in the a.m. photo makes it so you don't really know that there's a whole neighborhood beyond the tall white buildings. 
3. PCH is more prominently displayed in the p.m. photo due to all the lights lining that famous road. 
4. The ocean plays a nice part in the a.m. photo and you can't even see it in the p.m. photo.
5. More people (and visible trash cans and lifeguard towers) in the a.m. photo. 

Check back for Cyrena's 11:00 p.m. photo

Sarah's photo: