One of the rewards of staying in touch with former students is that you get to be a part of their life even after they’ve graduated. This weekend one such former student, Caleb Trainor, arranged for me and a handful of my current photography students to do some night photography at Breakers Water Park. Caleb had done some drone imagery of the park recently and the owner happened to see it, making a connection which led to official access of the grounds this weekend.
Originally constructed in 1982, Breakers Water Park provided the people of Tucson, AZ with cool, family fun for nearly 35 years. Today the park is officially closed, and while it is kept under lock and key awaiting a buyer, people still illegally enter to vandalize the property. The graffiti makes for neat photography, but I’m sure the owner does not appreciate it. As a former patron in my youth, it was very odd coming back to the park in its current state. Pangs of sadness were mixed with nerdy, photography exclamations like, “Oh! Those paint cans make an awesome picture!”
Remember trying to get up the ladder at the deep end of the wave pool? That was quite a feat! What are your favorite Breakers memories?