Tides Change by Bodhi Smith

"tides change" a new impression from bodhi smith...
"the stars have seen so much change happen on our planet, but they remain silent, only a witness, smart enough not to resit and fight the change...we can see such infinite wisdom in the stars... " ― bodhinku, infinite wisdom
“in life we cannot avoid change, we cannot avoid loss. freedom and happiness are found in the flexibility and ease with which we move through change" ― gautama buddha, sayings of buddha  
"be water. flowing, flexible and soft. subtly powerful and open. wild and serene. able to accept all changes, yet still led by the pull of steady tides. it is enough.”― victoria erickson
“today i am a person torn between the terror that everything might change and the equal terror that everything might carry on exactly the same for the rest of my days.”  ― paulo coelho, adultery 
btw, here is a contemplative tune to listen to as you read my blog (just click on the song title, it is a link to the lyric video), it has pensive lyrics about how you see things change in front of you, even though you do not want them to... "good things fall apart" by illenium

"overthinking's got me drinking, messing with my head...i know i can be dramatic, but everybody said we had it...i'm coming to terms with a broken heart,  guess that sometimes good things fall apart" ― illenium, good things fall apart
“try not to resist the changes that come your way. instead, let life live through you. and do not worry that your life is turning upside down. how do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?”― jalaluddin rumi, the essential rumi  
"as the tides change and my life rolls on, i've seen things fall apart, but sometimes you just have to let them go to pieces, let them be and become what they may" ― bodhinku, tides change
"life has three rules: paradox, humor, and change....1. paradox: life is a mystery; don't waste your time trying to figure it out....2. humor: keep a sense of humor, especially about yourself. it is a strength beyond all measure....3. change: know that nothing ever stays the same” ― dan millman, way of the peaceful warrior
as the tides change, things change...continual change just happens whether we want it to or not, whether we need it to or not, it just happens over and over and over...we must somehow make change a positive in our life, even though sometimes on the surface it is very hard to see how...
for so many years, almost nobody knew of the existence of any pier ruins way down below the steep cliffs in the sleepy seaside town of davenport, ca...they drove by going 55mph, high up above on the pacific coast highway (pch1) oblivious to anything else except their own dashboard and the music on the stereo...and the old pier ruins lived peacefully in quiet obscurity and anonymity for many many years, surviving thousands of tides with so few footprints beside them... 
and i am glad a few years ago that i got to shoot these pier ruins in davenport before people knew they were there...because now with the explosion of images on instagram, not much is obscured or secret anymore when it comes to locations of beautiful and mystical things...now these pier ruins are no exception, now the beach is riddled with footprints and the mark of humans being there...
the tides of human beings coming and going in massive numbers now has changed this place forever, and it is hard for me to see how it is for the better, but i am trying my damnedest to see the hidden positive in the message of this particular change...
and as a result of this change, i have regrets that i can no longer go there and take this beautiful picture again...you see, these old pier ruins used to be very beautiful to photograph...but 3.5 years ago, some people tagged the front ruin on the beach, coating it with panels of unsightly graffiti/art,plus they hung a metal chain swing from it as well, and severely tagged the cliffs behind the beach with all sorts of crazy ugly and random graffiti (this link shows in a video what the pier now looks like, as of 01/2019)...and then to add insult to injury, weathering did its natural thing with erosion, and the fourth old ruin out in the water succumbed to the elements, and collapsed into the sea forever a couple years ago too...
you can see how much the pier and this area has changed only 5 years later since i took my image you see before you in early october of 2014...
and on a similar subject, i was just talking with a true good friend a couple days ago about all of the scenes that i have photographed that i can sadly no longer take the same image again since something dramatic has happened to them and changed them forever (not for the better in photographic terms unfortunately)...
including the damage done to the davenport pier, here are some other locations i love that i can no longer take another beautiful picture in the same way again...
1. the tree on top of broken hill at torrey pines state preserve, la jolla, ca, has fallen down...
2. the entire poplar tree farm in boardman, oregon, is pretty much all cut down not to be replanted...
3. a careless idiot of a photographer caught the ss point reyes shipwreck in inverness, ca, on fire and totally destroyed the entire stern of the boat...
4. the old wood rungs on the deadfall ladder at lower kanarraville waterfall are all gone after a severe flash-flood ripped them away, now replaced by all metal ones...
5. the section i photographed has collapsed of the colorful mala warf in lahaina, maui, hawaii...
6. the lone tree on at the beach's edge fell over...it was on the west side of egmont key in the gulf of mexico off st. petersburg coast, florida...
7. along with many others trees at this location, the main tree in my shot with lightning over the gulf stream at botany bay, edisto beach by charleston, south carolina has been knocked over by hurricane...
8. there is a new wall built at the edge of horseshoe bend in page, az, forever changing it...
9. pier pylons at st. clair beach in dunedin, on the south island of new zealand, have been weathered and washed away to almost nothing...
10. my personal favorite in my "gift of namaste" image, the japanese maple tree has split because of severe frost damage, and over half of the tree has now died.. .
11. the old shack along the us 395 in lee vining, ca,  has really fallen apart because of weathering...
as with these locations i have captured with my camera that are no longer the same, i often also regret many changes that have happened in my life as well, but those changes usually opened the door to let me see past my fears and closed-mindedness, to see what the light of change had to offer and brings within a positive construct,,,,i have learned lessons from these changes that make me a better photographer, and more importantly, make me a better person...sometimes you have to go through pain to get better, sometimes you will never understand this until looking back...but what can we do? just roll with the changes, the tides of change are continual as long as we live, as buddha said, "nothing is forever except change" so accept that, and live within the changes...because...
as i have seen, i am sure you have seen as well, that no matter what, even good things will fall apart... so enjoy the moment now, enjoy your life and the things you have, the passions that inspire you and bring joy, enjoy the people and pets who love you, all those right before your eyes...live in this moment, live and live...
"travel to that place you always wanted to see, go see it, only excuses are what's stopping you. say all those things you wanted to say to those people you never said them to, only pride is keeping you from it. learn to do that thing you always wanted to do, and do it, only fear is holding you back...do not instead make up a list of all the stuff you want to do before you die, just start doing it, and do it now. do not wait for 'one day.' experience what you can right here, right now, before it all changes...because it will change. the tides of change are as constant as time itself. as buddha once said, ' nothing is forever except change'...so take nothing for granted, nothing is guaranteed except that it will all change one day..."― bodhinku, tides of change 
“life is not a static phenomenon. it is a flux, a river-like flux; it needs constant change. it needs moment-to-moment awareness; otherwise you will be left behind" ― osho, the hidden splendor
“all things change, whether from inside out or the outside in. that is what magic is. and we are magic too" ― christie golden, jaina proudmoore
“change is part of life. civilizations rise and fall, the tides wax and wane, the planet undergoes periods of climatic revolution, the young grow up, and the old die. what will come is that what shall be. survival as individuals and as a species demands fluidity of human thought and the demonstrated ability, temperament, and perseverance to change" ― kilroy j. oldster, dead toad scrolls 
the old pier on davendort beach was used by the concrete company in the town of davenport to help carry concrete from the factory way up on the cliffs above down to the beach below to be loaded onto ship to take to san francisco and other parts of the world...

but settlement in the area of today’s davenport got its start in 1868 when captain john davenport, a sea-based whaler by trade, built a 450 foot wharf off what became to be known as davenport’s landing. the wharf was used to export local timber by boat to san francisco. the original town was about a mile to the north of the present location near el jarro point, in the beautiful cove at the mouth of agua puerca creek

captain davenport also used a practice developed in the azores islands of portugal called shore-based whaling. scouts on the bluffs would alert men to go out from shore in a boat, kill the whale, and tow it back to shore for processing. it allowed the crew to stay with their families and was easier than processing the blubber at sea. by 1880 the high costs of operation of the wharf forced capt. davenport and all his workers to give up his business and abandon the landing and move to santa cruz.

the history of the modern town of davenport is wholly wrapped up with the davenport cement plant. in 1905, an east coast cement businessman named william dingee began the santa cruz lime company on the banks of san vicente creek, two miles south of davenport landing. in the following year, the santa cruz portland cement company was built nearby. the town was built in 1905 by the coast dairies and land company to house workers for the cement plant on the shores of san vicente creek, the town was originally called san vicente, but when the post office was moved from davenport landing south to the new town in 1907, it retained the name of davenport. in those days, the power of the post was great, so san vicente slowly faded away as a name, to be officially replaced by davenport.

by 1915 davenport had a population of about 1800 people, with 60 homes, two hotels, a school, a hospital, and a church. the cement from the plant was used to rebuild san francisco after the 1906 quake, build one of the panama canal locks, the golden gate bridge in the mid-1930s, 
and even construct the dry docks in pearl harbor, hawaii. though it was bought and sold by several different companies over the decades, the plant continued to supply cement for major construction projects up and down the west coast. it was the main employer in davenport for over 100 years.

in 2005, cemex, a mexican company, acquired the plant and kept it operational until 2010, when a bad economy, high operation costs (the highest of its 14 cement plants in the US), and fears of chromium 6 poisoning similar to hinkley, ca (of erin brockovich fame) forced it to close. at the time it employed about 120 people. its closure was a big blow to the town in loss of jobs and other services. for example, cemex was paying about $185,000 annually for operation and maintenance of the local water and sewage treatment facilities. after the closure, the community had to absorb those costs, on top of the many job losses in a weak economy.  

in the first third of the 20th century getting into and out of davenport was a big deal. there were over 700 turns on the road from davenport to santa cruz. as such, the town was isolated and developed a close-knit community. it was made up of a very culturally diverse group of people. most of the managers were swiss, because the coast dairies and land company was owned by four swiss families, but the workers were from all over the world. italian and greek families were very prominent but workers apparently came from all over europe and the middle east. prior to world war one, over 20 different languages were spoken in the town.

by the 1930s the roads and cars had improved such that many people moved to santa cruz and commuted to davenport to work at the cement plant. the cement plant apparently chartered with greyhound to bus workers back and forth daily. by the 1940s it was a much smaller town with a population less than five hundred.

during world war two, the united states government brought in mexican workers, under the bracero program, to do agricultural work. many worked in the davenport area. after the war, several mexican workers came back and the town’s cultural makeup began to include more people of mexican decent and lose the influence of previous italian and greek cultures.

alverda orlando, a davenport resident from 1945-1975, tells a story about one mexican man, known as pancho, who walked up the stairs of the cement plant one day looking for work. at the same moment a shift worker, an italian-american was walking down having just quit. the superintendent hired pancho on the spot. pancho went on to work at the cement plant for years, brought his whole family up from mexico, and bought seven homes, eventually giving one to each child of his...

of a historical note..the st. vincent depaul church, in davenport, was built entirely of cement from the local cement factory in 1914 and is the subject of a famous photograph by ansel adams.

also of historical interest is the davenport jail. it has two cells, and was used only twice from the time of its construction in 1914 until its decommissioning in 1936. today it is a museum featuring coastal history supported by volunteers from the santa cruz museum of art and history.

the southern portion of the ocean shore railroad operated between davenport and santa cruz from 1907-1920. now the southern pacific freight line between the two communities is still in place, running directly through davenport along the cliffside, eventually tracing the entire california coast.

davenport is also home to american a, which is a producer of farm raised california red abalone. california farm raised abalone has been selected by the monterey bay aquarium’s sea watch program as an excellent choice for environmentally conscious seafood consumers.

and there you have a nice history of the small little community of davenport, its concrete factory, and its concrete pier ruins...
"we live in an era of great metamorphosis. the old rules of the past are crumbling and we hunger for change. we are tired of the oppression and the limiting boxes that we have been taught we need to exist within. we grow weary of a society that teaches us that we need to adhere to their regulations and keep our eyes closed to our talents and our gifts" ― c. ara campbell  

"it is not selfish to be into loving yourself, and be into doing what you love, nor is it selfish to protect those things your love flows into...if anyone questions and doesn't support your methods and reasons for protecting your loves, then they are seriously the true selfish ones..." ― 
bodhinku, into love
“nothing is forever except change" ― gautama buddha, sayings of buddha
“there are no ordinary moments”― dan millman, way of the peaceful warrior
"the memory of you drifts in on the breeze and glides along my skin awakening a sleeping ember in my soul and bursting it into flames. my body holds the memories of your dance with mine penetrating my every sense; raw and open wide we merge, nothing left unfelt, unseen or unsaid. my armor evaporates into the ether and the barriers standing guard around my longing heart dissolve; all that is left for me to do is feel. no matter how far out my tide goes, i always return to kiss the sands of your shore. my heartbeat calls to you echoing your name across the pages of time. i can feel you moving through my soul even though you are a million miles away. such a spell of love you weave upon this heart of mine as we swim eternally deeper into these sacred seas" ― c. ara campbell

“the difference between an ordinary life and an extraordinary life is only a matter of perspective. pull the blinds. look around you. it is a weird, wonderful world and you do not require a ten digit savings account to immerse yourself in it. travel down long winding roads without a destination in mind, climb the nearest mountain and scream your heart out into the void, kiss strangers, make love, skinny dip in a lake, get lost and lose yourself (these are two separate things), explore the wilderness (particularly the one within), think less of destiny and more of the moment right here. because in the end, as you reflect back on your life in that hospital bed, fame won’t matter, nor will the extent of your wealth. you are only the sum of the stories you can tell”― beau taplin, an extraordinary life
“to harden the earth
the rocks took charge:
they grew wings:
the rocks
that soared:
the survivors
flew up
the lightning bolt,
screamed in the night,
a watermark,
a violet sword,
a meteor.

the succulent
had not only clouds,
not only space smelling of oxygen,
but an earthly stone
flashing here and there
changed into a dove,
changed into a bell,
into immensity, into a piercing
into a phosphorescent arrow,
into salt of the sky" ― pablo neruda, 100 love sonnets
“no one should ever ask themselves that: why am i unhappy? the question carries within it the virus that will destroy everything. if we ask that question, it means we want to find out what makes us happy. if what makes us happy is different from what we have now, then we must either change once and for all or stay as we are, feeling even more unhappy.” ― paulo coelho, the zahir
“the dunes are changed by the wind, but the desert never changes. that's the way it will be with our love for each other” ― paulo coelho, the alchemist
“really important meetings are planned by the souls long before the bodies see each other. generally speaking, these meetings occur when we reach a limit, when we need to die and be reborn emotionally. these meetings are waiting for us, but more often than not, we avoid them happening. if we are desperate, though, if we have nothing to lose, or if we are full of enthusiasm for life, then the unknown reveals itself, and our universe changes direction.” ― paulo coelho, eleven minutes 
“don’t become more knowledgeable, become more innocent. drop all that you know, forget all that you know. remain wondering, but don’t transform your wondering into questions, because once the wonder is changed into a question, sooner or later the question will bring knowledge. and knowledge is a false coin.” ― osho, book of wisdom
“loneliness is absence. because you don’t know your aloneness, there is fear and you feel lonely, so you want to cling to something, to somebody, to some relationship...just to keep the illusion...but, you cannot cling to anything in a changing world" ― osho, next time you feel lonely...
“just become a little alert and start the change from your side; don’t expect it from the other side. it will begin from the other side, too. and it costs nothing to smile, it costs nothing to love, it costs nothing to share your happiness with somebody you love" ― osho, emotional wellness
“i don't know that love changes. people change. circumstances change” ― nicholas sparks, the notebook
“change not only was inevitable, but usually brought its own rewards” ― nicholas sparks, the last song
“how can we be sure of anything the tide changes. the wind that made the grain wave gently yesterday blows down the tress tomorrow. and the sea sends sailors crashing on the rocks, as easily as it guides them safely home. i love the sea but it doesn't make me less afraid of it. i love you but i'm not always sure of what you are and how you feel" ― rod mckuen, listen to the warm 

"still don't know what i was waiting for, and my time was running wild...a million dead end streets and every time i thought I'd got it made, it seemed the taste was not so sweet. so i turned myself to face me, but i've never caught a glimpse of how the others must see the faker, i'm much too fast to take that test...changes, turn and face the strange changes, there's gonna have to be a different man...time might change me, but i can't trace time"  ― david bowie, changes
"when life is too much, roll with it, baby...don't stop and lose your touch, oh no, baby..luck will come and then slip away, you've gotta move, bring it back to stay...you just roll with it, baby...the way that you love is good as money, i swear by stars above, sweet as honey...when this world turns its back on you, hang in and do that sweet thing you do...you just roll with it, baby" ― steve winwood, roll with it
"as soon as you are able, woman i am willing to make the break that we are on the brink of...my cup is on the table, my love is spilling, waiting here for you to take and drink of...i knew it had to happen, felt the tables turning...got me through my darkest hour, i heard the thunder clapping, felt the desert burning, until you poured on me like a sweet sunflower...so if you're tired of the same old story, oh, turn some pages. i will be here when you are ready to roll with the changes..." ― kevin patrick cronin, lead singer reo speedwagon 
“the moon changes each night but does so in an understandable rhythm. and just as the tides ebb and flow and the moon waxes and wanes, our bodies’ hormones ebb and flow and our energies wax and wane. our bodies are more like the rivers than like the rocks, more like the oceans than like machines. the more we can respect the cycles and changes and needs of our bodies, the more we can move with the flow of our lives. in other words, swear by the moon. or, trust your body” ― golda poretsky
“you are told from the moment you enter school that time is constant. it never changes. it is one of those set things in life that you can always rely on...much like death and taxes. there will always be sixty seconds in a minute. there will always be sixty minutes in an hour. and there will always be twenty-four hours in a day. time was not fluctuating. it moved on at the same, constant pace at every moment in your life. and that was the biggest load of crap that i’d ever been taught in school....truth was, time did fluctuate. it was easy to lose hours or even days in a blink of an eye. other times, it was a struggle to get through a mere hour. it ebbed and flowed as relentlessly as the tides, and just as powerfully too. the moments that you wanted to last forever were the ones that were washed away all too soon. the moments that you wanted to speed up, were slowed down to a snail’s pace...that was the truth of the matter" ― s.c. stephens, effortless  
“now all you can do is wait. it must be hard for you, but there is a right time for everything. like the ebb and flow of tides. no one can do anything to change them. when it is time to wait, you must wait.”― haruki murakami, the wind-up bird chronicle 
“yesterday i was clever, so i wanted to change the world. today i am wise, so i am changing myself” ― jalaluddin rumi, a year with rumi  
"besides time moving on, change is the only constant, the only guarantee in life...i can only hope, as much as humanly possible, the changes turn into a positive in my life" ― bodhinku, changes  
this is two frame image composition ...and since both exposures are long exposures, a stable and sturdy tripod was an absolute necessity in order to keep the image sharp in the places i wanted sharpness (i use selective focus on most of my images, similar to the way our eyes see things)...for this i used a dolica 70" carbon fiber tripod, because it is sturdy, tall, and perfectly compact....for me, this shot would never have been possible without my friends daniel and april at dolica tripods.

in my photography i always use filters to create longer exposure effects and to balance the light in my composition in camera...i often use as many as four filters at time, and i always use at least one filter...no filters were used in the star exposure part of this composition, but for the seascape image, two filters were used, 3.0nd filter to permit for extra saturation of the blues and greens in the image and slow down light 10-stops and allow for the effects you see of the smooth pacific ocean and white shore break, plus a 1.2gnd to stop down the much brighter evening sky (just after sunset) 4 stops...
i wish to openly thank my sponsors who have always supported me through both the good and bad times...for truly this ultra long exposure would not be possible without the use of my trusty dolica tripod in combination with the progreyusa filters which i use with every photo i take...
"the transition of twilight is so unique, that time we call blue hour...it's where i find my peace under the light of a billion stars, glowing and flickering as if they were fireflies rising up in the night sky after the sun sets..." ― bodhinku, my peace  
"contemplate without thinking. stop the world. slow down everything. shut off the noise. breathe in. breathe out. relax. seize this moment. reconnect. feel and sense what surrounds you. listen to all the colors of light that envelope you. see the melody and harmony that floats about unnoticed. taste the solitude of all this wonderment. smell the beautiful silence within your peaceful serenity. then, reach out and touch your faith. this is my world. awaken." ― bodhinku, my world
above all else as always, i hope this message and image find you well.


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