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| Wasco Yard |
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| Kecks Corner |
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| Lost Hills Oil Field |
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| Solid Oak Realty |
Highway 46 begins in Central Valley desiccation and winds up
dipping its toe in the blue Pacific between Cayucos and Cambria. It starts in a
scruffy nothing called Wasco and reaches Paso Robles where it becomes a
playground of well-healed oenophiles. Then it twists it's way over the Coast Range where the shimmering
ocean beckons below. This little sampling emerged from an array of images which
may become an article entitled A Golden State of Mind. The story
intended for the May-June issue of Shadow and Light Magazine promises to be a
bitch of an editing job since there’s no likely path to ten photographs that
can represent the Golden State or the nearly 80 years of love I feel for the blessed and blighted California that I first saw as World War Two wound to
an end. I couldn’t even tell the tale of Highway 46 in nine photographs as you can
plainly tell. So, good luck with ten that display the glory and gamut of the Golden State. I do have another tale in my back pocket if I can get on the road in the next two weeks. Lake Powell, Lake Meade and possibly Great Salt Lake would fill my dance card for a story called Deadpool.
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| Fallow Nut Farm |
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| Live Oak at Tablas Creek |
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| Tablas Creek Vineyard |
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| San Simeon Pier |
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| Cayucos Fog |
California 46 often called the Paso Robles Highway may show how the bleak nothing above Bakersfield meets the bounty and wealth of the world’s fifth largest economy better than any other. That California’s agricultural wonderland depends on acres feet of water is
vividly on display. Nut farms, water suckers that they are, have been left to
wilt just thirty miles shy of paradise. In 85 miles you leave the San Joaquin Valley,
traverse desert scrub, cross the Chalome Hills and drop into a heady stew of wineries,
fine eateries and a short jaunt over the mountains to the Pacific.While incomplete it is a fair snapshot of the Golden State.
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1 comment:
You are absolutely correct that winnowing your photographic history of California would be quite the task. But you are, no doubt, up to it. This morning's sampling - particularly Like Oak at Tablas and Cayucos Fog are quintessential California. The ironic Solid Oak Realty would have to be included as an example of how a placed can be nearly loved to death. I know some of the California photographs that have become my favorites will probably be included in the Shadow and Light article, but I look forward to seeing more samples of your photographic history of life and love in the Golden State. Muchas gracias!
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