There is a kind of love that doesn’t ever really go away, that lingers in the background through the years and emerges once again to surprise and delight you and change the course of the rest of your life. That’s the kind of love Beth and Rick have. They were together in high school, and spent a lot of time together at the Boardwalk. Beth says there are still tire marks in front of the house where she lived then, from Rick’s rebellious screeching spirals when he dropped her off after their dates. I love the idea of those marks, the past still visible in the present. Their engagement session started on the trestle bridge, meandered up to the river mouth, and ended up at the Boardwalk. We watched the years lift away as these two became teenagers again. Only now Beth doesn’t have to sneak in if she misses curfew.

Well now here’s a post that would’ve been way more relevant six months ago! But at least the event described here happened within this calendar year. That makes it all okay. Right?

As you may remember, we (or rather, I) photographed the first annual Santa Cruz NEXT awards ceremony back in January 2010- you can see those photos here. On January 23, 2011, the NEXTies happened again, making this the second annual Santa Cruz NEXT awards ceremony, in case you were losing track. This time Patrick was there too, and he got fabulous photos, as you will see.

The 2011 NEXTies happened at the Top of the Ritt, and once again Timerie Gordon made it look space-age-awesome. This time around she included real live humans in her design, because she’s a genius like that. These living statues were brought to us by Santa Cruz Dance. At the start of the event, they posed on scaffolding in the lobby. Later they made their way around the venue and became part of the decor, sometimes holding still and sometimes moving very slowly. They started to seem like some other kind of lifeform, something oceanic. It was a little bit disconcerting, and totally cool.

Many tasty tidbits were offered by local vendors and served on wheels by several Santa Cruz Derby Girls. These tidbits included the teensiest brisket sliders I’ve ever seen (by SmoQe BBQ) and yummy stuff by Coastal Catering and others. Later on Dan P and The Bricks took the stage and got people to do some fancy dancing. The first time I ever saw Dan P and the Bricks was actually in front of that same building, right on the street, where they had a piano and a crowd of pleased tourists around them.

You can read more about the 2011 NEXTies and who was honored there in this article.

On a photographic note: one of my favorite photos that I’ve ever taken is the 12th one down in this post. There’s something so incredibly strange about it. I think I’ve had dreams that looked like that photo and the one after it. Recurring, perplexing, Lynchian dreams. Also, the final photo, the view of Pacific Avenue from the Top of the Ritt, is definitely one of my favorite photos by Patrick.

Overall, I think we did pretty well considering how dark it was in there (low lighting plus no nearby walls plus dark ceilings equals flash frustration!) And now our did-pretty-well-ness is preserved forever on this blog, which means It Officially Happened. Hooray!