Living In New York City - California, knows how to party...
Or something like that. The month of December was not a typical one for this intrepid photographer. A lot happened, some of it good and some of it bad. Enough happened that I needed to take the month off from posting to this website and honestly, I did not feel like taking pictures for a good bit of December. I needed to find inspiration, my soul felt on edge and I needed to find some peace. Eventually, and thanks to my wonderful soon-to-be in-laws, I found it! I had to travel, literally, to the opposite side of the country to find it. California is where I was born, it's where my first memories live, and it's where I have always felt at home. Even when I had forgotten that I loved it there, all it took was a trip back to the Golden State and the love started flowing almost as quickly as I beelined to In'N'Out for a burger. The laid-back lifestyle in Southern California was never so obvious to me as it was this time. NYC has a heartbeat that can almost make you deaf to what goes on around you. So much is happening at once here that you take it all in but act like you don't care, and really you can't care because you live in NYC and that's just life here. Jesus Christ could come back to earth tomorrow and if he came to New York he would certainly make a splash, but no more so than the Broadway hit Aladdin, or the Cronut. But in Ventura County, just a short walk from the pier, the only heartbeat you notice is your own and how in sync you are with the gently crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean. The palm trees stand at attention and line the path up and down the beach while surfers disappear into the ocean to bum rides back on foaming swells. Is it all wine and roses? No, I know life can be hard anywhere. But there is something special about California, there must be. After all, it is where the world was first introduced to me!
