Two Trees in Ventura, California

Moved to Ventura in the late part of 1989. Like a lot of Santa Barbara natives, had the goal of home ownership in mind. I thought, how different could it be to live 30 minutes south, still by the sea and pay $100,000 less? Okay, so things turned out a lot different than planned. This community that I moved to, was more like me than I could have guessed. I had been raised in private schools in Santa Barbara, but I was not one of the elite’s. I was the youngest of eight, yes, EIGHT!, kids so money was kind of tight as we grew up. I did not have a college fund or even a plan as I graduated from one of SB’s best college prep schools. Ventura became my new home. I made friends readily and steadily. The friends I have now, 20 years later, where the same ones that I met while my kids attended pre school, then elementary school (Love you Pierpont!), middle school and then the various high schools.
I have always been a photographer, well, since I was 16. I remember when me and my then husband moved here and I told him that I wanted to photograph the pretty things in Ventura as I had in Santa Barbara, and he responded with ” who would want those?” I stuck with my ideas and have since photographed quite a few weddings in Ventura as well as documenting the 1995 destruction of the Ventura Pier with the photo of “Big Wednesday” which hangs on the wall of Eric Ericcson’s restaurant, at the base of the Ventura Pier,to this day.
But one location has eluded me. The two little eucalyptus trees that perch high on top of the hill like two little angels guarding over the city of Ventura. They are a symbol, a touchstone, for many of us that call or have called Ventura our home. They have been there, begging me to go up and photograph them. I had done so from the ground, but these two little trees that can be seen from the 101 freeway as you drive through this town ( and many have driven through on their way from Los Angeles to their destination, Santa Barbara) taunted me for years. Begged me to climb up and see them. See what they see. Every day. So finally, I did!
New years’ day came and along it came the energy for me to go. When I finally made it to the top, I turned around and felt 100’s of years of what people felt when they were there. Looking out towards the Channel Islands, seeing the green path at my feet, I could imagine what it felt like to be new to this land. And I was..