Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, CA

Beautiful Architecture

Rating: You Might Like It

Nathan is very interested in photography (which is why he does it for a living), so this part of our anniversary trip was especially for him.  The Museum of Photographic Arts (MoPA) is located in Balboa Park amidst a slew of museums and gardens.  We walked around Balboa a little, but we really only went into this one museum so I'll have to review the entire park and other museums another time.

When we first arrived, we had a difficult time finding the museum itself.  It's inside a larger building near an indoor food court.  On the outside, there's just a small wooden sign reading "Museum of Photograph Art" or something like that.  Once inside, we walked down a hallway and saw the museum name printed on a glass wall.  We knew we were in the right place.  The admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors, and $5 for students, but we used Bank of America's Museums on Us program to get in for free. The theme of the museum was portraiture (which is Nathan's focus at the moment).  Although the space seemed rather small at first, it ended up being the perfect size for getting a good look at all the pictures and descriptions on display.  There were only two places we could take pictures, but those places encouraged interaction and creativity.  It was a lot of fun trying to mimic the artists.  Like all museums, if you're not interested in the subject matter you'll find yourself bored.  If you're interested in photography or photographic art (like us), you will LOVE this place.   You can decide if you want to make this a stop.

The Man in the Moon

Taking a candid picture without smiling.

Nate's candid picture.