This 18 foot high sculpture, entitled “The Spirit of Imperial Beach, depicts both surfing and sand castles, activities closely linked to this town’s identity. Created in 2008 by the sculptor A. Wasil, the sculpture features a seven-foot tall lifeguard surrounded by children building a fantasy city out of sand. I photographed this sculpture in a number of ways, and rather than literally describing the statue, I found the most successful approach was to link it to the surrounding architecture and vegetation. I photographed only the huge lifeguard, and used an off to one side vantage point to blend it into the geometry of the background building and its surrounding palms.