California Impressions
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Golden Hollywood Freeway
Hollywood Freeway near Barham Blvd., Los Angeles, California. The setting sun projected silhouettes of vehicles, and their tinted glass, onto the wall.
Fuji GSW690 camera, 65mm Fujinon, Fuji 220 Provia film, drum scan.
Zabriskie Dawn
Daybreak at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, California
The rising sun and waning moon shared the sky, casting a kaleidoscope of orange, yellow, and red across the tan sandstone. Alone at Zabriskie Point, I found myself surrounded by an
expansive silence, the kind that I had heard could trigger claustrophobia. But could such a feeling arise in a place so vast?
I descended the escarpment carefully, the dim light offering little guidance. Each step I took sounded like a wrecking ball against the absolute quiet, as rocks tumbled and ricochetted down the hill, shattering the silence. Even the rustling of my nylon jacket, “zup-zip-zup-zip,” was magnified a hundredfold.
Minutes later, the noise became unbearable, so I froze, standing absolutely still, willing for the silence to return.
Fifteen seconds passed. Then—finally—quiet.
Before I could savor the stillness, a new sound hijacked my senses: my own breathing, suddenly loud and oppressive, like a loud steam engine inside my head. I held my breath for a full minute, hoping it would stop, but when my breath burst from my lungs all I heard was “CHOOsha, CHOOsha, CHOOsha.” I gasped, “What the heck is THAT?”
The noise grew louder, filling my mind until I realized with horror that it was my blood, pulsing relentlessly in the vessels near my eardrums. The sound became everything, inescapable, impossible to stop, and with that realization came the suffocating feeling of claustrophobia.
“Enough!” I shouted at the sky, as I spun around to climb back up the escarpment. I stomped my boots hard against the ground, sending rocks flying in every direction. “C’mon, noise!” I yelled.
My jacket zupped and zipped like a zydeco washboard, and I forced air through my clenched teeth louder than a steam engine. I cursed, I yelled, I sang out loud!
At the top of the hill, out of breath and desperate for relief, I ran to the safety of my car, and turned on the radio full blast. At last my body’s relentless noises faded into the background, becoming —once again — unnoticeable.
If rocks could talk.
Nikon F camera, 24mm Nikkor lens, Kodachrome 25, drum scan.
Beach Runner
Near Big Sur, California. From the cliffs above the ocean, I was focused on the changing patterns of sea foam and beach tonalities. Suddenly this jogger ran through and gave the scene scale.
Hasselblad EL/M camera, 150mm Zeiss lens, Kodak TechnoPan 120 film, drum scan.
Hollywood Sunset
Hollywood Freeway at the Cahuenga/Gower exit to Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards.
Concrete, stucco, cars,
patches of Nature preserved.
Hollywood and Vine.
Fuji GSW690, 65mm Fujinon lens, Fuji 220 Provia film, drum scan.
Tilt-a-Whirl
Los Angeles County Fair, Pomona, California. These kids were on their third ride on this thing!
Nikon F camera, 24mm Nikkor lens, Kodak Ektachrome 64 film, drum scan.
Rapid Transit
Hollywood Freeway underpass bus stop. Like most things in Hollywood, paint covers reality.
Fuji GSW690 camera, 65mm Fujinon lens, Fuji 220 Provia film, drum scan.
Redwood Sunrise
It's hard to believe, but this is exactly the way it looked... except for the colt who lived near the entrance to this old-growth redwood grove. I wanted to remember the grove and the colt in one image.
In this part of coastal northern California, foggy mornings are almost guaranteed.
Fuji GSW690 III camera, 65mm Fujinon lens, Fuji 220 Provia film, drum scan. I photographed the colt and gently placed him into position with Photoshop.
L.A.
Ventura Freeway over/under pass, Sherman Oaks, California.
Remember those children's books with cut-out images that unfolded in a 3-D effect as you opened the pages? That is "L.A."
Fuji GSW690 camera, 65mm Fujinon lens, Kodak Plus-X 220 black &white film, drum scan. Dimensional effects and coloring created with Photoshop.
