This image, shot at the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk, highlights one of my favorite things at amusement parks, soaring above the mayhem as if in some kind of dream. The feels of flying and swinging legs. The childhood secrets told; the rush of sitting hip to hip with that boy crush.
Carnivals stir up all sorts of yumminess inside me. The noises, the lights, the screams the sticky concrete, the overpriced milk-bottle-knock-over-ballon-pop-grab-the-stuffed-animal-claw games, the ever present sugar infused pinball action of children scampering around with sheer excitement plastered on their faces. The corndogs and cotton candy and saltwater taffy. The nostalgia, the history, the playfulness the whimsy. It all adds up into one giant “kid in a candy” store feeling. I fell in love with these as a toddler, sitting tandem with my mother as we both held onto the glittering pole in front of us, gently undulating on a bedazzled carousel horse. Amusement parks were a thing for my family, searching for carnivals and fairs and rides on every vacation we went on. I frequently threw tantrums at the fact that I was too small for the rides my brother and sister went on, only to be instantly pacified by a bag of popcorn or cotton candy as a sat on a slatted wooded bench covered in gooey stickiness, watching my siblings scream their brains out.
Among all the fairs and carnivals I have visited, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is probably one of the most iconic and nostalgic amusement parks on the California Coast. Entertaining visitors since 1907, this seaside spectacle is home to California’s oldest roller coaster, The Giant Dipper, and houses the hand-carved Loof Carousel, one of only a handful of carousels that still have an operating ring dispenser. As the inspiration for many songs and vintage snapshots, it is also served as the backdrop for a movie filmed in 1987, The Lost Boys, which cemented in me a definitive fear of all things vampire (but also stoked a creepy crush on Corey Feldman).
I started photographing all things fair and carnival related in 1998, when my dad handed down my grandfathers old Nikon 35mm film camera. I’ve been adding to this project for the past 20 years.
This image intentionally straddles the fence between fine art watercolor painting and photograph. Details are less sharp and figures blurred. Printed on 285gsm matte Hahnemüehle Torchon watercolor paper with archival pigment inks, giving it a linen texture and a fine art feel.
Unframed // Paper size 30 x 40in // Image size 24 x 34in // Limted Edition // $385
Contact me for purchase
