When asked to share some thoughts about a recent shot Kevin Twomey took at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Kevin sent this along to us:

“People who know me were surprised to see this new image that I recently shot at the Santa Cruz boardwalk.  I loved the colors and the blur and the freedom that comes with being able to actually take a ride.    The irony is that for most people,  this image evokes childhood memories of fun-filled,  summer days on innocent amusement park rides.
Well, not for me.

Instead, the vivid colors of the bright  blue sky and machinery that sets the chairs in motion don’t bring me back to those carefree days.   Instead, the only motion I can think of is motion sickness.

…oh that motion….sickness…..

On a scale from 1 to 10, I rate my tolerance a ZERO  for any motion other than slow, smooth, steady and straight.

In addition to the sea swing ride on Santa Cruze’s Boardwalk, here are a few other situations that have put me beyond my threshold, seeking stable ground as well as a bathroom, a bucket or those little white bags found in the pockets of airplane seats:

-whale watching boat cruises off of the end of Long Island
-treading water in the middle of the San Francisco Bay during the swim from Alcatraz to SF
-long bus rides along curvy roads in the mountains of Jamaica
-airplane flights where the captain has had to abort his landing of the aircraft not once, not twice, but THREE times
-the taxi ride immediately after the triple landing attempt
-carpooling with a driver who loves to show off the handling of his BMW 6 series automobile
-sitting opposite my brother in the back fold-up seats of a 70’s era chevy wagon during a long, hot, traffic jammed ride down the NJ turnpike
-standing in a #15 uptown bus, densely packed with human beings and a driver who loves to pump his breaks during the evening rush hour commute

It is no wonder I am a still life photographer!”

“On one side of the fence across the street stands a neglected Sherwin Williams paint facility, where a large-scale cleanup project to remove the toxins from the property will begin in early 2011.

On the other side of the fence, the grass is truly greener, where the eye is drawn to a freshly-mown patch of inspiration.  Transformed from a 50 x 8-foot dirt lot at the beginning of this year, it now serves as a putting green and community garden, complete with putter and golf balls, a bench
and doggie doo-doo basket.

This all has been the work of one man, Joel Devin, who can be found late each afternoon tending to this much-appreciated oasis, his reminder to us all just how much a community reaps from one man’s freely-given effort.”  Kevin Twomey