Audio Tour of the Rim Fire

If you are driving near Yosemite [or just want to listen] take a minute and download an audio tour of the Rim Fire.  The 11 stop tour, which begins from the Groveland Ranger District Office, is marked with numbered posts. An interpretive flyer can downloaded or obtained at the Groveland Ranger Station to guide you along the way.

The Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park burned 257,314 acres was the largest wildfire on record in the Sierra Nevada, and the third largest wildfire in California history. It started on August 17th 2013, and was finally contained on Thursday, October 24, 2013 – the day these photographs were made. The current drought in California [and the West]  is increasing frequency of these megafires that are more catastrophic in scope, demanding new approaches to firefighting and forest restoration.

Interesting to note with the development of more of these catastrophic fires that the US Forest Service decided to log all of the Rim Fire’s ‘ghost’ trees. While there was no dollar estimate attached, the Forest Service will be selling more board feet of timber as a result of the Rim fire than the combined total sold last year in all of California’s national forests. The plan was not approved without controversy.

But don’t worry, I heard this week we still have 3 trillion trees left in the world. If that number is correct that’s about 400 trees for every person on earth, with that number decreasing every year. I wonder if we should move breathing a little higher on the priority list.

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Landprints

Check out the new book featuring a majority of my photography for Bernard Trainor + Associates.  It’s been a great joy capturing these amazing landscapes for Bernard & Team.

You can grab it at Amazon or PA Press.

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The Oak

One of the reasons I call california home.

Architectural Photography Post Processing

Here’s an example of the last mile we often go through to get an image just right. At times it’s impossible to capture the image without hindrances or obstacles… in these cases we need to clean things up a bit. This goes on in small and large ways throughout our post processing workflow.

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You don’t take a photograph, you make it.  – Ansel Adams

While this image doesn’t fall in the top tier from the shoot, it nevertheless shows an elevation the client would benefit using as a reference. We try to include this category of images to tell the entire project ‘story’ – It becomes invaluable for clients in securing future projects and developing an office design library.

The River and the Cave

These days, it’s easy to be pulled into the flow of information.  Digital devices and social streams bring it to wherever we may be, at all hours of the day or night.  The flow is a raging river that sweeps us along.

As someone who strives to to create original work, I know I will do my best work only when I can spend time focused and removed from excess noise. Cave time. Yet I must also heed the lessons of the river – to gauge its features and dip into the rich eddy of information.  Occasionally I may want to swim out into the main current, hoping that it doesn’t sweep me into raging rapids of confusion or over a waterfall of wasted time.

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