The Light and The Sea

Like a diver at the Great Barrier Reef, amateur photographer Maral Nigolian couldn’t miss when she visited St. Paul de Vence, the irrrestible 16th century village on the French Riviera that has inspired many an artist. ‘Light is everything in photography,’ says Nigolian, who became obsessed with photography in the last two years. ‘I couldn’t take a bad picture that day.’ Nigolian’s own ‘backyard’ provides enough drama and light to fascinate her literally day by day. From her home on Resolano in Paseo Miramar, she observes the sweep of the coast from downtown Los Angeles to Point Dume, which she has photographed from dawn till dusk. She has chronicled the clear chill of fall when the light illuminates every detail from east to west uncluttered by haze. She has seen fog hovering like an unwelcomed guest at the foot of Santa Monica. She’s seen burning sunsets and the Queen’s Necklace, so named for the string of lights that mark the gentle curve of Santa Monica Bay from Point Dume to Palos Verdes. She’s even seen a purple sea’an ephemera that lasts for just a second as the sun dives into the sea. But the only thing she has not captured is snow on the San Gabriel mountains. ‘I just haven’t seen it when the light is right and when I’ve had my zoom. All the different variables have to be just right,’ Nigolian says. For most of her work, Nigolian uses a Pentax S digital, which she bought so she could use her old Pentax lenses. But, for still lifes, she has found that her little Canon Power Shot S 400, which she’s never without, ‘does very well.’ Nigolian and her husband Lon Kirschenmann and 7-year-old daughter Aran live on the hill in a house that Maral first saw in 1987 when she was living in West L. A. and looking to buy. ‘I looked for six months and saw this home with its wonderful view on the first day I looked, but at the time I thought I wanted a penthouse or condo. But with association dues I realized that I was looking in the million dollar range anyway so I went back to buy the first house.’ Nigolian grew up in Pasadena and graduated from USC with a B. S degree in real estate and marketing. She started her business Astor Wood Financial in 1987, which specializes in municipal bond financing. Some of her Los Angeles projects include the Alameda Corridor and current development plans on Bunker Hill. When not fascinated by the magnet of the sea, Nigolian loves to takes pictures of her garden or the drama that unfolds on walks with her daughter on the beach below.