[Portfolio] Old Stuff

[Gary]

#35


Two Ol' Peoples and a Bud Sign
Los Alamitos, California

Nikon F2 w/ Nikkor 20mm, Tri-X

[Erik Lund]

Sorry - I can only see two healty young twins... 

[elsa hoffmann]

me - enjoying the pics

[Gary]

Thank you Erik and Elsa (E&E).

[Gary]

#36


Panorama Fire
San Bernardino, California

Nikon F2/Tri-X

This is a shot of moi. My best friend in college, Chris Hardy, was working for the San Francisco Examiner and came down to San Bernardino to cover the Panorama fire. It was a big brush fire that eventually destroyed the northern part of the city. We hooked up and started walking up a dirt fire road towards the fire. We rounded a switchback when approximately 20 firefighters came running down the road, single file, right past us. They were so intent on fleeing that they didn't even look at Chris and me. As the firefighters ran by, I glanced at Chris, giving him my, Mr. Spock one raised eyebrow look. Chris snapped a picture.

I am armed with a F2 and a FM. On the F2 is a Nikkor 135mm and the FM is sporting a Nikkor 28mm. Under my left arm, I am sporting a Domke camera bag, purchased back when Jim was making them out of his garage. (There is Duct Tape holding the battery compartments doors shut on both cameras. )

[Jakov Minić]

Gary, a great image and a great story.
Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for this entire thread!!!

[Erik Lund]

So cool! Thanks for posting!
My Uncle has lived many years in Topanga Canyon and has had the fires right up to the house a couple of times,,, scary stuff!

[Gary]

Gary, a great image and a great story.
Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for this entire thread!!!

LOL ... I had so much stuff in the car that if someone peeked into the trunk I'd look like a survivalist. The goggles, respirator, rubber boots, were all with me on a daily basis. The jacket was nylon with a cotton lining. Wind blown embers were burning through the nylon, the liner, my shirt and ultimately me. This was a pretty good/bad fire ... I remember embers landing in my hair ... I'd slap the ember to put them out and instead of extinguishing the ember ... the ember would burn my hand. 

[Gary]

So cool! Thanks for posting!
My Uncle has lived many years in Topanga Canyon and has had the fires right up to the house a couple of times,,, scary stuff!

The brush in the foothills is called Chaparral. The brush is very thick and designed for fire, the wood and leaves are resinous/oily and gives off 'terpenes' which is highly volatile. In the dry heat of summer and fall, chaparral is ... well ... explosive. Many seeds require a fire trigger to germinate and stump sprouting is a normal characteristic for most of the indigenous plants.

But I digress ... lol ... So Chris and I sorta shrugged and continue walking up the fireroad. We round the next switchback, and there's this huge wall of flames, but fortunately the wind was blowing from our backs into the fire. The flames had to be reaching 40 to 60 feet tall ... but it wasn't moving. So Chris runs up to the wall of fire and waves ... then I. It was a good day.

[Gary]

#37


Birds
Cucamonga, California

Nikon FTn w/ Nikkor 50mm, Tri-X

[Jakov Minić]

Gary, you can also be a minimalist, I see.
Love it!

[James Fitzgerald]

I loved the whole thread Gary.
Last one, #37 finally did it for me. Great work. So glad you are willing to show your work here on NG.

[Gary]

Thank you Jakov and James. Interestingly enough, I almost didn't post this image. I am importing photos in the order they appear on my website... and the order on my website is totally random. I came to this image and says to myself "meh". I glad you guys like it.

G

[Gary]

#38


Self Portrait
Los Angeles, California

Nikon F w/ Nikkor 28mm. Tri-X

[Gary]

#39


Fullerton, California

Nikon FTn w/ Nikkor 135mm, Tri-X