El Toro Airbase

The End of an Era

In April, May and June of 2013, as well as in June of 2014 I attended a few photographic workshops lead by members of The Legacy Project. During these days the participants were taken back to shut down runways and hangars of the former El Toro Airbase, which were closed to the public.
Why did I attend these workshops? It wasn’t a military background. I very much enjoy taking pictures of architecture, and the older the building it is, the more interesting it becomes to me. Portraying former beauty or function in decaying buildings and places is another favorite photographic topic for me. When I heard about the first workshop and how close to our home it was going to be, I signed up right away. I am very glad I did. This was a very interesting and eerie location to visit and to photograph.

In the spring of 2013 I heard about a photography workshop series lead by the The Legacy Project team at the OC Great Parks. I was able to attend two of the 5 classes, and a couple of my images were included in the gallery exhibit entitled A Different Point of View. (Post about last year’s event.)

Raider Country Hangar at the former El Toro Air Base

A few weeks ago I found out that another three part series was offered at the Great Park. Although I couldn’t attend the first part, I very excitedly signed up for the other two classes. The first one was lead by Jacques Garnier, who explored the peaks and valleys of the creative spirit. The workshop was more of a conversation than a lecture, and participants explored different ideas of how to overcome the ‘blank page’ syndrome, or the ‘photographers’ block’. Ironically, one of Jacques’ great ideas was to switch lenses for some new point of view. Just days prior to the workshop I purchased a fish-eye lens, and I was looking forward to trying it out at the airbase location we were going to see. This day we visited the Raider Country former hangar, which is partially occupied by a recycling company. We were able to explore the left side of this building, at least a few rooms in it.The place is a photographer’s paradise – it hasn’t been cleaned for many years, possibly over a decade. For a person like me, who likes to record messages from the past, this was a place hard to leave. I mostly used my new fish-eye lens, and I feel, that I captured some important elements of the deteriorating building and its history. I’ve created a thematic entitled A Decade of Decay, which portrays rooms from the above mentioned building, and a few images from another abandoned building.

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The second workshop was lead by Mark Chamberlain, and he educated us in great detail about the history of the park, the Legacy Project, and the future green corridor that is supposed provide a safe route for wild animals between the Santa Ana Mountains and the Pacific Ocean (Crystal Cove State Park). As part of the workshop we rode the Great Orange Balloon (my first time!), and we visited a fenced, closed from the public area that will become the green corridor. A few images from the balloon:

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Disconnected and Disappearing (El Toro Airbase Thematic)

The Legacy Project Workshops Series 2014