Scenes from San Onofre

Tip for a great summer: self-assign a project revolving around surf culture. Even if the project’s a bust, at least you can spend a couple of days a week surfing and hanging at the beach and call it work. That’s been my plan this summer at least, and so far it’s yielded several great new photos and made me a slightly better surfer than I was a few months ago. These images have nothing to do with the project, but are just a couple I shot recently on an overcast day in San Onofre when I wasn’t making much progress otherwise. The San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant is an iconic landmark defining the south end of Surf Beach and has been in the news a lot lately following Southern California Edison’s recent decision to permanently shutter it after having provided power to SoCal since 1968. How the state will fill the void in the region’s power supply or how they will eventually dismantle the facility contains is anybody’s guess, but it’s pretty likely the soon-to-be abandoned plant will continue to mark the shoreline for years to come. Also, Surf Beach is the closest thing you’ll find if you’re looking for that classic 1950’s “Surfin’ USA” feeling, and is a great place to come see classic beach cars, from VW Vanagons to Woodies, and in this case, a beat up old Beetle. I couldn’t help but grab a shot as I left the beach one day last week. With several more weeks of summer left and probably several months of good surfing weather left after August, I’m planning on keeping this project going as long as possible!