Zach Petschek Photography Blog

As human beings we create with little remorse. “Let’s build it!” “OK”. Time erodes the dream and hacks away at intentions. Until one day our creations get abandoned and mother nature systematically reduces it to ruble. This silo was built with great things in mind. At one point someone said “We’re going to make a lot of money”. After years and years the entire structure was abandoned. Rain to rust it, wind and sand to scrape it, sun to scorch it. Human life is so quick that we do not see these processes happening before our eyes. When you slow everything down far enough there is only peace and quiet. So here sits this enormous structure. Over it’s lifetime it will collapse and break and be eaten away. To us on this full moon night it is an escape from the world in a quiet corner of the world.

It decays in the full moon.

Silo in the light of a full moon

Against the skyline

Shade from the light of a full moon

Alone in the night

Ground can be deceiving. Cracked earth is a decoy to the instability that lies below the surface. It only takes one wrong move to change the course of the day. Every project we perform is desert mud.

All day long we are bombarded by advertisements, traffic, people and noise. It is quite stressful and it shows in our demeanor from day to day. To cope with these stresses some people turn to drugs, some to hobbies, some to the latest episode of their favorite citcom. But others, like me, do not have time during the day (and maybe that’s where the stress comes from) to do most of these activities. There is only enough time to vacate your mind for a brief moment. A sort of temporary Zen. We can find this in art. For a few seconds allow yourself to gaze into an idea or a place. Feel the air, see the light, smell the sea breeze. Hear the echoes of the daylight patrons. The nocturnal hear the echo that the sunlight brings.

Tamarack Beach in Carlsbad on a peaceful full moon

This is a shoot I did last week for the Herman’s. A military family in Oceanside with a 7 month old baby girl. They came out great and I look forward to working with them again.

Family at Buccaneer Beach Park Creek

Laying in the grass at Buccaneer Beach Park

Joe and Alyssa at creek by Buccaneer Beach Park

Alyssa and Azra under trestle at Buccaneer Beach Park

Herman Family at Buccaneer Beach Park

Herman Family at Sunset

Ben Franklin once said “We will only know the worth of water when the well is dry”. You don’t know what you have until it’s gone. As humans we are bombarded all day by advertisements, conversations, sensations, and emotions. It would be overwhelming to pay attention to each and every one and nothing would ever get done. Therefore we take some things for granted and move on the next perceived importance. Sometimes the things we choose to ignore prove their worth retroactively. Reassess your values often to make sure you do not overlook an important detail. Otherwise the well will just be a deep chasm echoing life.

Drinking from a fountain flowing from the ocean