Blackout - Downtown San Diego Power Outage - September 2011
This photo was taken of the Downtown San Diego skyline shortly after sunset. The power was out in downtown San Diego, as it was for the rest of San Diego county and up to southern Orange County and east all the way to parts of Arizona.
In the Gaslamp District the power was out a little over 8 hours. It was a fun night out at a few bars that were open with nothing but candle light. Many people had to go home early because they ran out of money, without power the bars were only accepting cash, and the nearby ATM machines weren't operating. Also, as the night progressed fewer and fewer cold drinks remained, but it was still a fun time and a unique experience.
It was kind of creepy walking down the streets downtown with no street lights or building lights to speak of. There are a few lights in office buildings in this image, but compared to some of my previous San Diego cityscapes, it is obvious many of the lights are missing.
View the skyline powered and blacked out together in one super high resolution composite here.
Comments and faves
Christian Ronnel, Daniel J. Mueller, Dr. JS Photography, The Ricketandoo, and 21 other people added this photo to their favorites.
klickertrigger (21 months ago | reply)
nice view!
Justin in SD (21 months ago | reply)
Here are some shots from a similar location with the power on:
Daniel J. Mueller (21 months ago | reply)
stunning!
Michael.Lee.Pics.NYC (21 months ago | reply)
Interesting shot to see mostly just the rooftop beacons lit up, although there is some establishment that is brightly lit at street level on the right side of the image. It's amazing, and frightening, that one person could make a mistake and knock out power for millions of people. I hope that power is restored soon.
todaniell (21 months ago | reply)
Well done.
bradfordtennyson (21 months ago | reply)
Great shot, I have a couple from the blackout that I'm working on.
Sean Webb (21 months ago | reply)
Great shot. I have the same one from the same location. Did we talk?
rituvincent (21 months ago | reply)
Great shot! Hopefully that's not something we're going to see again anything soon, but it was quite the adventure for the city.
canon60dslr (21 months ago | reply)
Amazing.
nxtrFOTO (21 months ago | reply)
Wow! Probably a once-in-a-lifetime photo op.
cate_c (21 months ago | reply)
Thank you!!