Forty-eight years as a photojournalist with forty-seven of those covering Yosemite National Park, and I had never photographed the Bracebridge Dinner. Â Not because the event hasn’t been around – it’s over 80 years old. Â More because when I think about Yosemite the images in my mind’s eye are Half Dome and El Capitan erupting from […]
Tag Archives: california
Motor Fire Near Yosemite Entrance, August 25, 2011
Last Thursday I was working on a blog about my first season photographing the NFL, when I got an email from my friend Wes Schultz. Wes sent me a URL from Wildlanfire.com that said there was a fire near El Portal and they were requesting recourses. I could see a big column of smoke […]
Buzzard Visit, August 10, 2011
Last Wednesday about ten in the morning, my wife called to me from outside our house. She said the turkey vultures were flying very low and I should get my camera. We live near the top of Greeley Hill where the up-slope winds allow big birds to soar for hours. I already had my boots […]
Cowboy Photography Workshop July 2011
Two weeks ago, the Erickson Cattle Company held a Cowboy Photography Workshop in Ackerson Meadow near Yosemite National Park. Here is my record of what I saw during the workshop. Photographers were treated to lots of real cattle ranch activity. A late rainy season kept the wildflowers and grass alive and colorful until this mid-July […]
Jess Tharp — Fourth of July, 36 Years Ago
In the middle of June 1975, Laurelei Mullens, Modesto Bee features editor, sent me to south Modesto to photograph Jess Tharp, an 80-year-old cowboy saddle maker. Mullens was doing an advance story for the big Modesto Independence Day Parade. She wanted to do the story about Tharp because he would be the oldest rider in […]
Muhammad Ali visits Modesto, California 1971
When I heard that Muhammad Ali was going to speak in Modesto, I immediately started asking Darell Phillips, the Modesto Bee’s Sports Editor, to give me the assignment. It wasn’t until the next day that I checked the photo schedule and saw I was on nights that week, so the assignment would be mine […]
John V. Tunney California Senatorial Campaign 1970
Last week I blogged my 1968 experience with national politics and campaign trains in my blog “Robert F. Kennedy 1968.â€Â A little more than two years later, I got the opportunity to put into action what I had learned when I was given the assignment to cover 1970 U.S. Senatorial candidate John V. Tunney.  […]
Robert F. Kennedy 1968
In March of 1968 I had been on the Modesto Bee photo staff just under two years and had long since earned my stripes with the editors and photographers, so I was given my first big assignment of national importance: to photograph Robert F. Kennedy at the Senate Hearings in Stockton, California. As a lifelong […]
Cattle drive near Yosemite National Park
For over a hundred and twenty years, the Erickson family has been driving their cattle from the Merced Falls area to summer grazing near the border of Yosemite National Park. The drive takes the same route; of course there are three major highways now not to mention a bridge over the South Fork of the […]
Raiders 2010-11 Season
Still hoping the National Football League and the Players Association will come to an agreement so they can play football this year. I have been photographing the Raiders almost as long as I have been covering the 49ers. The drive is shorter and it is easier to get in and out of the Oakland-Alameda County […]