Photo and Time Lapse Video of Horton Plaza Mall in San Diego, California
Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego has some of the most interesting architecture of any mall I have ever visited. I’m not saying I like to visit malls, but the photographer in me enjoyed visiting this particular one because of the photo opportunities it provides.
I love this photo because it feels like the shoppers in the mall are rushing around to buy that next item. I think the large clock in this photograph adds to the feeling of the hurried consumers.
Not only was time running out for the shoppers, but also for Scott and I who were approached by a security guard not long after this photo was taken. We were told to put our cameras away for “safety reasons.”
When we asked whos safety they were worried about, the security guard mentioned it is actually because the owners of the mall have intellectual property rights and don’t allow photos to be taken. You only look like a threat if you have a professional looking camera because plenty of people take photos with their camera phones and plaster the photos all over Facebook.
To me it seems silly because when people take photos and put them on a website it’s free advertising. I later learned that it’s possible to get a permit ahead of time to set up a tripod and take photos of this mall, so that’s exactly what we did.
Here is another look at the same scene at dusk and a short time lapse video that we created from our second visit to Horton Plaza Mall.
Horton Plaza at Dusk
The lighting wasn’t great when we took the stills for the video. We had limited time and didn’t have the correct equipment for time lapse. Instead of using some fancy editing software we substituted iMovie. No famous audio tracks, just our creation in Garage Band.
Sometimes the conditions are not always perfect or even close to what you wished for, but that shouldn’t stop you from capturing the beauty that you find. This is our first attempt at a time lapse video. Let us know what you think.
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