Sixteen years is a long time. Cameras changed, phones became studios, and the world turned itself inside out more than once. And yet, standing in a Costco parking lot in Temecula recently, I found myself doing something I had done in Yorba Linda back in 2010 - crouching low beside a wall of red shopping carts, squinting through a viewfinder, chasing the same geometry I had chased before.
The two images sit side by side now and the resemblance is almost embarrassing. Both shoot along a long diagonal line of nested carts. Both lean into the repetition of red handles and silver wire. Both try to find something almost sculptural in an object that exists purely for hauling bulk olive oil and oversized cereal boxes. The recent Temecula image has that warm, slightly dusty quality of midday Southern California sun. The Yorba Linda shot is cleaner, the carts newer, the handles brilliant red. But the instinct behind both photographs is identical.
I think this is one of the quiet truths about being a photographer over a long stretch of time. We return to the same visual obsessions the way writers return to the same themes. We are drawn to repetition, to pattern, to the way ordinary objects become abstract when you get close enough and choose your angle carefully. The subject is almost beside the point. It could be carts, or telephone poles, or chairs stacked outside a closed cafe. What we are really photographing is the way our brain organizes the world.
There is something both humbling and reassuring about discovering your own fingerprint sixteen years later. I did not plan to remake an old photograph. I just saw the carts, felt the pull, and pressed the shutter. Some habits go deeper than memory. They live somewhere closer to instinct.
Costco Yorba Linda in 2010
| Tag Name | Data |
|---|---|
| Title | Costco Yorba Linda |
| Image Description | Shopping carts at Costco in Yorba Linda |
| Keywords | basket, cart, costco, parking lot, patterns, shopping, shopping cart |
| Copyright | Copyright ExpertPhoto.com All Rights Reserved |
| Artist | ExpertPhoto.com |
| Make | Canon |
| Camera Model Name | Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
| Lens Model | EF16-35mm f/2.8L USM |
| Focal Length | 16.00mm |
| Shutter Speed Value | 1/200 second |
| Aperture Value | 8.00 |
| ISO | 100 |
| Date/Time Original | Thursday January 14, 2010 09:30am |
| City | Yorba Linda |
| State | California |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Anaheim Hills |
| GPS Altitude | 75 meters (246.1 feet) above sea level |
| GPS Latitude | 33.875315 |
| GPS Longitude | -117.743941666667 |
| Map | Google Map Link |
Costco Temecula in 2026
| Tag Name | Data |
|---|---|
| Title | Costco Temecula |
| Image Description | Costco Temecula employee lines up carts outside the store in Temecula |
| Keywords | basket, cart, costco, parking lot, patterns, shopping, shopping cart, temecula |
| Copyright | Copyright ExpertPhoto.com All Rights Reserved |
| Artist | ExpertPhoto.com |
| Make | Apple |
| Camera Model Name | iPhone 16 Pro |
| Lens Model | iPhone 16 Pro back triple camera 2.22mm f/2.2 |
| Focal Length | 2.20mm |
| Focal Length In 35mm Format | 14.00mm |
| Shutter Speed Value | 1/500 second |
| Aperture Value | 2.20 |
| ISO | 20 |
| Date/Time Original | Thursday March 05, 2026 11:58am |
| City | Temecula |
| State | California |
| Country | United States |
| GPS Speed | 0.00 kmh (0.00 mph) |
| GPS Altitude | 325.9 meters (1069.2 feet) above sea level |
| GPS Latitude | 33.5208111116667 |
| GPS Longitude | -117.1547 |
| Map | Google Map Link |