Re-examining Sutro Baths

There are lots of misconceptions about photography.  Most people have this misleading notion that it's difficult to find interesting things to shoot in one's hometown, and that one must travel somewhere new and exotic (like a third world country) in order to find entirely fresh, compelling subject matter.  I disagree.

I bring up this issue because of what someone said to me recently: "You have the opportunity to take great photos because you travel all the time."  OUCH.  That felt almost like an accusation.  So of course I had to prove to myself that much of my photography is attributed to hard work and a dose of talent, as opposed to sheer opportunity.  I needed to show that I could create interesting landscape photos without having to travel beyond three miles. 

So here it is, Sutro Baths, a tourist destination also popular among amateur and professional photographers.  The abandoned ruins of San Francisco's old bath house, nestled against Ocean Beach, is eerily beautiful, especially after the sun sets.  I was lucky to have a full moon this week, which cast a nice glow over the ruins and allowed me to reduce exposure time for these night shots.
 
I initially photographed Sutro Baths a little over three years when I was a photography student (images below).  This was a fascinating exercise for me because it allowed me to compare and contrast these two sets of images (taken 3.5 years apart) and examine whether I've shifted the way I see and compose things over the years.  Do you notice the differences?