Kite Aerial Photos: Santa Cruz Lighthouse

On the west side of Santa Cruz is the lighthouse, now a surfing museum. A large area of land, called Lighthouse Field, was saved from developers in the late 1970s. In fact, it was saved from being "developed" as a formal park. Today it serves mainly to walk dogs in. As I chased my escaped kite string across the ground, I discovered it is also home to many gophers. At the railing on West Cliff Drive a Japanese tourist caught the string just before my kite and camera went out to sea!
Some of these pictures were taken with Rodney's Wooden Wonder 3, a light and delightful rig designed only for horizon shots, which is powered by a music box motor! They were taken in October or November 1998 around 4 PM, and the sun is low.