Posts Tagged ‘California’

Moving Past The Repertoire by Greg Russell

December 19th, 2011

Moving Past the Repertoire: An Essay By Greg Russell

Landscape Photography Blogger Note: My photoblog friendship with Greg Russell developed over the last year or more through an exchange of many e-mails and phone calls on the state of photography today and yesterday, philosophy, and our development as photographers. This essay came out of our conversations. Concurrently on Greg Russell’s photoblog Alpenglow Images, he has posted an essay I wrote called, “Make Your Own Tripod Tracks.” For more background on Greg Russell see the blog post, “Monday Blog Blog: Greg Russell, Ph.D.” or his own short bio.

Moving Past The Repertoire By Greg Russell

In a previous blog post, I mentioned Katie Lee, whose songs and essays have undoubtedly made her one of the greatest advocates for the Colorado Plateau, and the Colorado River in particular. In one of her essays she talks about a photographer friend she once brought to Glen Canyon before it was dammed. He dropped his camera in the sand before exploring a much-anticipated side canyon. Instead of continuing up the canyon sans camera, he turned around, saying emphatically, “I don’t even want to see it if I can’t photograph it.”

Hmmm…that brings up an interesting question. Imagine yourself on the trip of a lifetime, possibly even knowing you’re going to be one of the last people to see a particular canyon before it disappears underwater forever. How would you react if your camera got filled with sand?

Personally, I would probably begin by using every curse word in my vocabulary. Then, I would probably pout, and I hope I would enjoy the rest of the trip, even without “that shot.”

Today on my blog, David Leland Hyde in his blog post, “Make Your Own Tripod Marks,” likens landscape photography to trophy hunting, with intense competition to get “the shot.” Indeed, despite the camaraderie, things have evolved into a very “me first” sort of culture. As a result, as soon as a new location is discovered (and its coordinates disseminated), it quickly becomes part of hundreds of photographers’ libraries. Mark Meyer has written an excellent article on the landscape photographer’s repertoire, which describes the mentality of this culture very well.

Rather than rehash Meyers’ comments (he makes his point much better than I ever could), I wonder to myself, can we move past the repertoire? Can we discover our own little wild places, places that inspire creativity based on our own discoveries, our own way of seeing?

As a beginning landscape photographer, it seemed logical and intuitive for me to learn about composition and exposure by following in the footsteps of photographers who inspire me. I visited the classic viewpoints—Mesa Arch, Tunnel View—and in all honesty, I don’t regret it. I think everyone should see sunrise at the Towers of the Virgin at least once.

However, I began to realize that by visiting these locations and making the same compositions as everyone else, my creativity was impeded. By photographing the repertoire, my technical skills matured, but when the time to look for unique, incongruous, compositions and to attempt to break the “rules” in an artful way, it was obvious to me. In other words, it was time to put down the roadside guide, to stop letting highway pullouts dictate what would make an interesting photograph.

In the search for my own voice, I quickly learned that for me, fostering a connection with the land—a sense of place—was the most valuable tool in letting me discover the landscape’s “unseen” beauty. As a result, my writing and photographs focus on the place, rather than the technical aspect of photography, see, for example, the blog post: “Overland Flight.”

It was my voice, not the voice of others, that I wanted people to hear; speaking for the land, in my opinion, is an important aspect of being an artist.

All of this isn’t to say you should avoid Yosemite Valley at all costs, or that you should never venture into the eastern Sierra in October.

What I am saying, however, is to enjoy the landscape for its own sake. Ask yourself, “If I forgot my camera on this trip, would I still be enjoying myself?” After all, the first step to moving past the repertoire is to foster a connection with the land, not to race everyone else in documenting it.

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Posted in Guest Posts

Tags: archival fine art digital prints California Colorado Plateau Colorado River desert landscapes Glen Canyon Greg Russell Katie Lee landscape photography Mesa Arch mountain landscapes place Tunnel View Utah wilderness Yosemite National Park

‘Occupy Wall Street’ At UC Davis

December 8th, 2011

Occupy UC Davis: Save Public Education

Background Scenario to My On Location Account: Video Induced Honesty, World Wide Outrage and Pepper Spraying as Meme

The peaceful Occupy Wall Street uprising of 99 percent of the people against the richest ruling class one percent, started in New York in September and spread around the world. Out of all Occupy Wall Street protests from Philadelphia to San Francisco to many “small town, USA” main streets, Occupy UC Davis has drawn the most publicity and discussion.

Why? Simple answer: Police brutality. As you may have seen on major network news, YouTube or any number of blogs around the internet, University of California, Davis Campus Police officer John Pike pepper sprayed his way into history, became a Photoshop Meme and is now known as “Casually Pepper Spray Everything Cop.” Students did not take it sitting down for long. They responded powerfully to the excessive force applied against them. In one video made at an Occupy UC Davis demonstration, one member led the crowd in a chant. He shouted, “Is this what a police state looks like?” And the crowd roared, “This is what a police state looks like.”

The Chief of UC Davis Campus Police, Annette Spicuzza, later explained to the Sacramento Bee that John Pike and another police officer pepper sprayed the students seated on the ground, arms linked with no way to protect their faces because, “There was no way out of that circle. They were cutting the officers off from their support. It’s a very volatile situation.” However, the website, Know Your Meme, said over a dozen videos from different angles were uploaded to YouTube and showed that the UC Davis police were walking freely around the area. Soon after Chief Spicuzza placed the two officers on leave. University of California President Mark Yudof subsequently put Chief Spicuzza on leave as well. Meanwhile UC Davis dropped charges against the non-violent student demonstrators.

Occupy UC Davis participants demand UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi resign largely because she defended the Police actions to begin with, but as dissent increased, she realigned with Occupy UC Davis student and faculty protestors. Following the pepper spray incident she sent a letter to University officials: “The group was informed in writing… that if they did not dismantle the encampment, it would have to be removed… However a number of protestors refused our warning, offering us no option but to ask the police to assist in their removal.” Later after the uprising reached a crescendo, she told a crowd of over 1,000 students at a town hall that she, “Explicitly directed the chief of police that violence should be avoided at all costs.”

Traveling To Photograph ‘Occupy UC Davis’ And What I Discovered

Believing this to be a potentially significant defining moment in history, and living within 180 miles of Davis, last week I packed up my father pioneer landscape photographer Philip Hyde’s trusty 1984 Ford Econoline traveling Van and headed for UC Davis to document with photography what I could. I missed a major rally scheduled for 9:00 am Monday, November 28, 2011, but finally finished enough work to get away and arrived on the UC Davis campus that evening. I found the Quad by 10:00 pm, just in time to photograph several TV crews from various stations filming in front of UC Davis’ Dutton Hall Financial Aid. Donations from around the world through Amazon.com had just paid for 25 new tents to bring the total in the Quad up to 75 and add more than a dozen to the inside lobby and main entry courtyard of the financial aid building. That day financial aid closed down early and remained closed the following day except for check disbursement.

I photographed Dutton Hall and then headed out to the Quad proper. A good number of students were still awake. I met Devin, Michelle, Anne and a number of others. Considering it was the last week of school before finals week, the Occupy UC Davis encampment had plenty of supporters and participants. I talked a bit and photographed until around 1:30 am, when the cold fog got the best of my fingers and toes. The nearby parking structure allowed free parking from 10:00 pm until 7:00 am. Besides the hundreds of bicycles in the Quad, there were still many vehicles in the parking structure despite postings of a regular security patrol. I decided to do my part in violating the campus policy of no camping and promptly curled up in my ultra comfortable bed in my warm van. I was not disturbed. Apparently UC Davis Police were preoccupied. Earlier in front of Dutton Hall, I witnessed several Campus Police cars drive up and a large group of police officers approach to talk to the student leaders present. At that point, both sides were going out of their way to be cordial to each other, but the police were making their presence known.

The morning fog brought a damper, lower cold. I put on my gloves and another jacket, fed the parking meter and walked back out to the Quad for more photographs. The student protesters on hand recommended I attend the teach-ins in the afternoon. Occupy UC Davis protesters had added quite a few signs and banners to the front of Dutton Hall. Besides the small signs everywhere that said, “No Tuition Hikes,” there was a huge poster of the list of the three main student demands posted near the doors, a gigantic sign that explained financial aid was closed and why from the protesters viewpoint, and a big banner calling for a general strike at UC Davis. The RNs and many teachers were already on strike.

Teach-Ins, Power, Organizing And Goals

Returning to my van I ate lunch, caught up on phone calls and drove off in search of a coffee shop to get online. I finished my internet business just in time to head back to UC Davis for the fog clearing and the Teach-Ins. The Teach-Ins scheduled an hour apart in the geodesic dome for November 29 by UC Davis professors or associate professors included Ari Kelman speaking about “Radicalism in the 1910s,” Victoria Langland, “Student Activism In Brazil, 1960,” Bob Ostertag, “Power and Approaches to Organizing,” and Larry Bogad, “Tactical Performance, Radical Spectacles.” Because it was just a little after 3:00 pm when I arrived at the Occupy UC Davis Information Booth, Professor Bob Ostertag had just begun leading his mix of discussion and lecture.

I made some photographs of the gathered group, gradually listening more closely to the discussion and Dr. Bob Ostertag’s captivating approach. As described at the heading of his recent article about Occupy UC Davis for the Huffington Post, Professor Bob Ostertag is a composer, historian, journalist, and Professor of Technocultural Studies, Film and Music at UC Davis. The students were highly focused, serious, and determined but they were for the most part without strong leadership and a well defined, unified direction. Many of them wanted to nominate leaders but others were also hesitant to do so. At the same time, they were concerned that the movement they had started continue and not fizzle out.

Professor Bob Ostertag witnessed some activism in South America and had other relevant experience leading groups. He defined the difference between organizing and mobilizing in non-violent movements. He pointed out that Police Officer John Pike pepper sprayed a line of seated students and suddenly 3,000 people turned out and mobilized, but at that time had yet to truly organize. The other part of the discourse I listened in on concerned setting goals. In my observation anger and outrage at the Police brutality were the primary motivators, as I easily understand, but Professor Ostertag helped to spark debate among the students about what their ultimate goals for the movement were. Occupy UC Davis’ immediate demands are for Chancellor Linda Katehi to resign, Police off campus with an alternative safety force and a freeze on tuition fee increases. In addition many other ideas were bandied around including the creation of feedback mechanisms in the University of California system allowing more student input to decisions and the reversal of the trend toward privatization of public education.

What Is At Stake?

In Dr. Bob Ostertag’s poignant piece for the Huffington Post he wrote:

Yes, there were about 200 people in the quad. It is a piece of grass that was placed by the designers of the campus to be an open, central meeting place for the university community. But somehow, 200 students in the quad has become a problem. A huge problem. A problem so big that, well, yeah it was too bad those kids got pepper sprayed, but hey, there were 200 people in the quad.

Like the chancellor, Chief Spicuzza justified the assault by saying that the protest was “not safe for multiple reasons,” none of which she specified.

How is it that non-violent student protest has suddenly become “unsafe” in the United States?

Good question, how is it indeed…?

Is it possible that certain factions have helped us learn to give up our rights? Is the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights now a sham, merely an outdated philosophical façade? Fox news anchor Bill O’Reilly has the answer: “I don’t think we have the right to Monday-morning quarterback the police. Particularly at a place like UC Davis, which is a fairly liberal campus.” Wait a minute, if we still have a government of the people, by the people and for the people, then the Police work for us. When did we give up the right to direct the way they respond, especially to peaceful protests?

See more of my best photographs in the blog posts, “David Leland Hyde Archival Prints Pre-Launch” and “My Favorite Photos Of 2010.”

References:

Know Your Meme

Davis.Patch.com

Huffington Post: Militarization of Campus Police by Bob Ostertag and other posts.

Occupy California Blog

The Washington Post

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Posted in David's Perspective

Tags: activists archival fine art digital prints Bill of Rights Bob Ostertag California David Leland Hyde fine art photography Fog Ford Van Fox News Huffington Post Mist Nikon D90 non-violent action Occupy UC Davis Occupy Wall Street Philip Hyde Sacramento Bee University of California US Constitution Washington Post YouTube

San Francisco Art Institute Photography History 13

December 5th, 2011

Summer School 1946 With Ansel Adams

Description And Outline

(Continued from the blog post, “San Francisco Art Institute Photography History, Part 12.”)

Summer School, as Ansel Adams referred to it, first started in 1946. The course ran for six weeks of intensive instruction based on the regular day school in photography at the California School of Fine Arts now the San Francisco Art Institute. Minor White first taught with Ansel Adams in the Summer of 1946 with students including Philip Hyde, Benjamen Chinn, William Heick, Ira Latour, Pirkle Jones, Ruth-Marion Baruch, Don Whyte, Pat Harris, David Johnson, John Rogers, Al Richter, Bob Hollingsworth, Walter Stoy, Helen Howell and others.

In preliminary descriptions of the course for the CSFA School Board, Ansel Adams suggested: “It should be considered as part of the full day school year rather than… supplementary…” The Summer Session became what Ansel Adams described as “a ‘screening course’ for the main student body of the day school.”

Ansel Adams further described the proposed course:

It should be made very intensive and should reveal within its six weeks span the abilities – or lack of them – of the students. Only those should be admitted who have definite intention to take at least the first year of the main school sessions. The exact topics to be considered in the summer school will be basic but of course should not be too extensive. The first summer school period in 1946 will enable us to clear up various ‘bugs’ in the studio, lab, and general operation. The summer school of 1947 should be designed, I believe, as a buffer course to enable the regular day students to perfect their work and to round out missing or weak aspects of their knowledge.

Outline Of Ansel Adams’ Summer Session 1946

Department of Photography

California School of Fine Arts

Day School:

Week 1

Period:

1: Organization, outline of study and general assignments, etc.

2: Functions of the Camera and Lens

3: Demonstration of above

4: Photographic Visualization

5: Demonstration

6: Basic Photographic Esthetics

Week 2

Period:

1: Resume of Photographic History and Esthetics

2: Philosophy of Exposure and Development of the Negative

3: Demonstration Including Darkroom Mechanics

4: Demonstration Including Orthochromatics

5: Problem: demonstration-Visualization through execution

6: General Discussion

Week 3

Period:

1: Presentation of a photographic problem (1^st assignment)

2: Execution of the problem – exposure and development of the negative

3: Printing

4: Demonstration

5: Printing of the negatives of the above problem

6: Discussion and criticism of problem-assignment results

Week 4

Period:

1: Elements of photographic Composition

2: Presentation of 2^nd Photographic Problem (2nd assignment)

3: Field or Studio work under direction

4: Printing under direction

5: Toning of prints

6: Discussion and criticism of second assignment

Week 5

Period:

1: Expressive fields of photography

2: Presentation of the 3^rd Photographic Problem (assignment)

3: Field or Studio work under direction

4: Mounting and spotting of prints (presentation)

5: Philosophy of Artificial light in photography

6: General Discussion and criticism of assignment 3

Week 6

Period:

1: Assignment using artificial light and analysis (4^th assignment)

2: Assignment: Three interpretations of the same subject (5^th assignment)

3: Minor darkroom techniques (reduction, intensification, bleaching, etc.)

4: Survey of contemporary directions in photography, Critical basis.

5: Resume of philosophy of technique

6: General discussion, exhibit work and criticism.

Four periods devoted to work in addition to the six periods outlined above are required. The exact assignments will be worked out well in advance. An emphasis on regional subject material to be maintained throughout. Full demonstration of all work required. Laboratory assistants will be on constant duty five or six periods out of the total of 10 periods per week.

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Posted in Photography History

Tags: 4X5 Baby Deardorff Large Format View Camera Al Richter Ansel Adams Benjamen Chinn Black and White Prints Bob Hollingsworth California California School of Fine Arts darkroom David Johnson Don Whyte fine art photography Helen Howell Ira Latour John Rogers landscape photography Minor White Pat Harris Philip Hyde Pirkle Jones Ruth-Marion Baruch San Francisco San Francisco Art Institute straight photography Summer Session 1946 Walter Stoy west coast tradition William Heick

On The Road To Dinosaur By Philip Hyde

November 28th, 2011

The Beginning Of Ardis And Philip Hyde’s First Trip To Dinosaur National Monument

From the Rough Draft of an Unpublished Article By Philip Hyde Originally Titled, “In Quest of Dinosaur.”

Circa 1951. Edited by David Leland Hyde 11-28-11.

(See the photograph large: “Steamboat Rock, Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado.”)

The creeping death of exploitation was threatening another great natural area. Through certain members of the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society including Martin Litton, Richard Leonard, and Olaus and Margaret Murie, David Brower heard and subsequently I heard about the beauty of Dinosaur National Monument and the proposed destruction of its integrity as a unit of the national park system.

On the phone, in letters and when we visited the San Francisco Headquarters of the Sierra Club, David Brower, Richard Leonard and Martin Litton told Ardis and I about the debates over Dinosaur in Sierra Club board meetings. The Sierra Club board was divided as to whether to remain a California centered organization with a primary emphasis on the Sierra Nevada, or whether to expand regionally and possibly nationally. Already other land use debates in the Pacific Northwest in Oregon and Washington were beginning to heat up. [Read about how campaigns in the Cascade Mountain Range became important blueprints for environmental grass roots organizing across the nation in the blog posts, “Oregon Cascades’ Impact On Conservation,” and “Oregon Cascades Conservation: Mount Jefferson Wilderness Area.” Also, learn more the Sierra Club’s first Executive Director and his contributions to photography and land preservation in the blog post, “David Brower: Photographer and Environmentalist 1.” To find out more about Martin Litton read the blog post, “Martin Litton: David Brower’s Conservation Conscience 1” and later posts in that series.]

Word and newspapers had it that those promoting the building of two dams inside Dinosaur National Monument claimed it was only another inaccessible scramble of river canyons. Defenders of Dinosaur retorted that as a scenic and geological spectacle, it was unique in the world. Now at long last, we were going to see it. We were heading out to the far reaches of Utah and Colorado up near Wyoming where Dinosaur National Monument straddles the Utah-Colorado border. We will see for ourselves if this little known land is worth preserving in its natural state. [To read more about how Richard Leonard and Olaus and Margaret Murie, founders of the Wilderness Society, traveled to Dinosaur and how Richard Leonard and David Brower sent Philip Hyde on the first photography assignment for an environmental cause, see the blog post, “The Battle Over Dinosaur: Birth Of Modern Environmentalism 2.” For an introduction to why Dinosaur was pivotal for the Sierra Club and the entire conservation movement that it transformed into modern environmentalism, see the blog posts, “The Battle Over Dinosaur: Birth Of Modern Environmentalism 1,” and other blog posts in the series.]

Packing and organizing for a photographic expedition of a month is a long chore. The scheduled day for departure found us still packing until early afternoon, but eagerness to get on the road would not allow us to wait another day for an early morning start. When we finished packing, we set off in our trusty Champion, leaving Monterey and crossing California’s great Central Valley toward the mountains and the deserts beyond.

Nightfall found us looking for a dirt road to turn off on for our first night’s sleep in the open, somewhere in the foothills above Auburn, California. The thrill of sleeping under the stars was still new to us, though we had both been doing it most of our lives. This was the first night of a new adventure and it quickened us with anticipation. The next day flew by as did the miles of Nevada’s Basin and Range Province. Our second night found us on an old road on a hill high above the lights of Winnemucca, Nevada. It was early June and the desert nights were still nippy, but we were warmed by the exhilaration of being out again in wide open spaces. Our third night out we spent in the “luxury” of a Salt Lake City motel before embarking on the final lap to our destination. We became tourists for a few hours of sight seeing around Salt Lake City, visiting the Utah State capital, the Mormon Temple and other main attractions of a city we had only traveled through briefly before.

The final hundred miles to Dinosaur took us up over the Wasatch Mountains out of Salt Lake City and along high plateaus covered with whole forests of aspens. Then we dropped gradually down, down to the semi-arid plains of eastern Utah, skirting the Uinta Mountains, whose snow capped summits we could see dimly in the north. Here and there along the plains among the low naked hills were green fields of Alfalfa and other crops. We came to a road sign that said, “Dinosaur National Monument 7 Miles.” This trip would be our first encounter with the infamous Dinosaur dirt roads, sometimes when wet they were made of slippery axel grease, sometimes they were nothing but a jumble of jagged rocks. The first dirt road proved prosaic enough and took us without difficulty to the Monument headquarters and the nearby Dinosaur Quarry.

We introduced ourselves to the Park Ranger on duty, Max James. He found Jess Lombard, the Superintendent of Dinosaur. We were greeted like returned relatives and offered the empty section of the barracks, which we gratefully accepted. The sky looked like it would burst open in torrents any minute, which it did shortly after we made it safely under cover with our gear.

This area was our base during that month in 1951 when we roamed over Dinosaur National Monument. It proved to be a great help to leave some of our equipment and extra film here while we were off for a few days in some remote hinterland of Dinosaur’s canyons. Our first job here involved evolving some kind of plan to see the whole National Monument. In this project the Park Ranger, Max James and the Monument Superintendent, Jess Lombard, were invaluable with their extensive knowledge of the terrain.

Because of unpredictable weather, we decided to stay in the immediate area for a few days to see the Quarry, the sandstone reefs near it and Split Mountain Gorge, the mouth of which, where the Green River emerged and would be flooded by 300 feet of water if the dam builders had their way, could be reached on a branch road about three miles from Monument Headquarters. This was enough to keep us busy for a while. The sandstone reef turned out to be full of fabulous rock forms that could have provided subject matter for the camera for weeks without stopping. [To continue Ardis and Philip Hyde’s adventures in Dinosaur National Monument see the blog post, “The Battle Over Dinosaur: Birth Of Modern Environmentalism 3."]

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Posted in Excerpts of New Book

Tags: 4X5 Baby Deardorff Large Format View Camera Ardis Hyde Basin and Range California Colorado David Brower desert landscapes Dinosaur National Monument Echo Park environmental fine art photography Green River Jess Lombard landscape photography Margaret Murie Martin Litton Modern Environmentalism Mount Jefferson National Parks Nevada Olaus Murie Oregon Cascades Philip Hyde Richard Leonard Salt Lake City San Francisco Sierra Club Sierra Club Board of Directors Sierra Club Books Sierra Nevada Split Mountain Steamboat Rock wilderness Wilderness Society

New Official Philip Hyde Short Video

November 17th, 2011

The Official Philip Hyde Short Video

Bob Yellowlees, proprietor of Lumiere Gallery in Atlanta is a genius for hiring Tony Casadonte as gallery manager. Tony Casadonte also builds the Lumiere Gallery search-friendly website on WordPress, presents and sells vintage prints and digital prints, oversees matting and framing, coordinates events, activities and a lecture series with the High Museum of Art, Atlanta… and… oversees the recording of videos. He directed the NEW 3:18 MINUTE PHILIP HYDE SHORT VIDEO…

Philip Hyde from Lumière on Vimeo.

The Making Of The New Video

One day Tony Casadonte told me I would receive a recorder in the mail. Seemed a bit strange, but everything is strange these days when it comes to technology. Sure enough, one day this box about 6″ X 10″ X 8″ arrived in my mailbox. I opened it up. Tony explained the contraption, “It’s only a couple hundred dollar recording machine, but we shipped it FedEx to be sure it arrived safely.” It was digital. No tapes. OK, I know I am hopelessly stuck in the 1980s when I remember my father picking up the first tape recorder commercially available from Sony. Anyway, no moving parts, amazing. Just press a button and start talking.

Tony gave me an outline of his interview points and I started speaking into the microphone to answer them. Every so often Tony interrupted and said, “Well, what about this?” or “That?” In a flash, seemed like, we had an hour and a half of me rattling on about my father pioneer landscape photographer and conservationist Philip Hyde and his work. I burned a copy of the recording right to my computer for backup, put the recorder in the box and done. Tony said he would have to edit it. OK, I agreed. He sent me several versions of the audio, cut down to three and four minutes. The editing shined in one version. Tony said, I’ll have my guy Neal go to work on this and cue up a video with music and your father’s photographs. Hopefully we will be able to make a video or two more out of the rest of the recording.

In a day or two Tony and Neal posted the newest version of the video on Vimeo and a slightly different version on YouTube. Take a look. I am amazed at the results. From my convoluted ramblings, they somehow cut a very focused, concise statement about my father that would have made him proud. Hats off to Tony Casadonte and his team, or is it Bob Yellowlees’ team? Anyway, great job gentlemen, thank you. Take a look yourself… and… don’t miss the current exhibition at Lumiere Gallery, “Messages from the Wilderness,” prominently featuring Dad’s conservation photography and the work of other great conservation photographers such as Ansel Adams, Edna Bullock, Peter Essick, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Tom Murphy, Bradford Washburn, Edward Weston and Brett Weston.

Messages From The Wilderness Exhibition

November 12-December 23, 2011

Lumiere Gallery
425 Peachtree Hills Avenue
Building 5, Suite 29B
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-261-6100

For more information about the exhibition see the blog post, “Messages From The Wilderness Opening At Lumiere Gallery.”

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Posted in Events-Releases

Tags: Ansel Adams archival fine art digital prints Arizona Atlanta Black and White Prints Bob Yellowlees Bradford Washburn Brett Weston California Colorado Colorado River darkroom David Brower Denali National Park desert landscapes Dinosaur National Monument Edna Bullock Edward Weston Eliot Porter environmental fine art photography Glen Canyon Grand Canyon High Museum of Art John Muir landscape photography Lumiere Gallery Modern Environmentalism mountain landscapes National Parks Peter Essick Philip Hyde Robert Glenn Ketchum Sierra Club Sierra Club Books Exhibit Format Series Sierra Nevada Sony straight photography Tom Murphy Tony Casadonte Utah vintage west coast tradition wilderness Yosemite National Park Yosemite Valley

Messages From The Wilderness Opening At Lumiere Gallery

November 11th, 2011

Lumiere Gallery Opening: Photography as Propaganda

Messages from the Wilderness

Saturday November 12

10 am – 4 pm

Opening All Day

Exhibition: November 12-December 23, 2011

Now Extended through MARCH 31, 2012

Messages From The Wilderness Installation At Lumiere Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia, Copyright 2011 by Tony Casadonte. Note the 32X40 archival digital print of Philip Hyde's "Great Overhang, Moqui Canyon, Glen Canyon, 1964" in the center flanked by 11X14 digital prints of "Virginia Creeper, Northern Sierra Nevada, California" and "Mt. Denali, Reflection Pond, Denali National Park, Alaska." Two Robert Glen Ketchum prints outside of that between the Philip Hyde prints with Philip Hyde's "Cathedral In The Desert, Glen Canyon, Utah" and "Dogwood, Sequoia National Park, California," on the outside far ends of the main wall. Other areas of the show feature Philip Hyde's hand made vintage black and white prints of Glen Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park and others.

Lumiere Gallery
425 Peachtree Hills Avenue – Building 5
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-261-6100

See the Lumiere Gallery website for a new video featuring David Leland Hyde talking about his father and the birth of modern environmentalism.

This exhibition features works deploying the visual power of photography to communicate and understand an appreciation of the great American Wilderness. These photographers have captured the beauty and form of nature using straight photography, documentary, pictorialism, abstraction and unusual lighting effect to communicate a story or to stimulate the viewer’s innate imagination. The work involved often has provided the foundation for major conservation campaigns.

The show includes photography by: Philip Hyde, Ansel Adams, Edna Bullock, Peter Essick, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Tom Murphy, Bradford Washburn, Edward Weston and Brett Weston.

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Posted in Events-Releases

Tags: Alaska Ansel Adams archival fine art digital prints Arizona Atlanta Atlanta Celebrates Photography Black and White Prints Bradford Washburn Brett Weston California Canyonlands National Park Cathedral In the Desert Denali National Park Dinosaur National Monument documentary photography Edna Bullock Edward Weston environmental fine art photography Glen Canyon Grand Canyon Grand Canyon National Park John Muir landscape photography Lumiere Gallery Modern Environmentalism Mt. Denali Reflection Pond National Parks Peter Essick Philip Hyde pictorialism Robert Glenn Ketchum Sequoia National Park Sierra Club Books Exhibit Format Series Sierra Nevada straight photography Tom Murphy Utah vintage Virginia Creeper wilderness

Northern Sierra Nevada Fall Color

November 9th, 2011

Fall Color In The Northern Sierra Nevada Of Northeastern California

Indian Creek Above Indian Falls, Fall Color, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 2011 by David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90. Single exposure. I saw this scene with the sunlight on a large area of the trees making an array of reflections as I drove home from the annual Apple Harvest at the Dawn Institute near Indian Falls. By the time I turned around, came back, parked and set up, the sunlight had faded down to this one small spotlight. There were no more still afternoons on Indian Creek when I looked before the trees lost most of their leaves.

Autumn 2011 has been the strangest Fall color season yet in the Sierra Nevada of Northern California. Many types of trees in the Northern Sierra have had a leaf disease. I have seen it mainly effecting black oaks and some maples, but also showing up on the leaves of some Indian Rhubarb. The leaf disease has caused many deciduous trees to turn brown and not produce any Fall color at all. Because of erratic weather and temperatures, some trees without leaf disease dropped their green summer cloaks slower than usual, others changed into their Fall color dressing much faster than usual.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service puts out a report called Pest Alert. The following is what Pest Alert said about this leaf disease:

A phenomenon known as Sudden Oak Death was first reported in 1995 in central coastal California. Since then, tens of thousands of tanoaks (Lithocarpus densiflorus), coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia), and California black oaks (Quercus kelloggii) have been killed by a newly identified fungus, Phytophthora ramorum. On these hosts, the fungus causes a bleeding canker on the stem. The pathogen also infects Rhododendron spp., huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum), bay laurel (Umbellularia californica), madrone (Arbutus menziesii), bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), manzanita (Arctostaphylos manzanita), and California buckeye (Aesculus californica). On these hosts the fungus causes leaf spot and twig dieback. As of January 2002, the disease was known to occur only in California and southwestern Oregon; however, transporting infected hosts may spread the disease. The pathogen has the potential to infect oaks and other trees and shrubs elsewhere in the United States. Limited tests show that many oaks are susceptible to the fungus, including northern red oak and pin oak, which are highly susceptible. On oaks and tanoak, cankers are formed on the stems. Cankered trees may survive for one to several years, but once crown dieback begins, leaves turn from green to pale yellow to brown within a few weeks. A black or reddish ooze often bleeds from the cankers, staining the surface of the bark and the lichens that grow on it. Bleeding ooze may be difficult to see if it has dried or has been washed off by rain, although remnant dark staining is usually present.

Indian Rhubarb Near Indian Falls, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 2011 by David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90. Single exposure. The wild Indian Rhubarb had just begun to change color as I made this photograph. I probably missed the peak of the Indian Rhubarb because I haven't made it back since.

I have seen the red ooze or the dark stain on many leaves of many trees this Fall season. Some disease has also infected the aspens, the leaves of which in many cases this Fall turned straight from green to brown, or from green briefly to gold and then to brown. Before the last storm, some of the Indian Rhubarb looked like it was starting to show some good color. At first, in early October, it seemed all the tree species leaves were turning faster than usual, then for about a week everything turned very slowly. It was unusually warm into early October. We went skinny dipping in Indian Creek on October 1. It was a bit too cold to feel the elation Walt Whitman described in Leaves of Grass, but it was the first time we have ever swam in Indian Creek that late in the year without wetsuits and river rafts. In early October the oaks were just starting to go yellow and I’m sure the aspens were already turning up high. In the second week of October I heard that the aspens at higher elevations had gone straight from green leaves to brown. Here the few my mother planted were normal: their leaves turned from green to yellow and gold.

Maple Impressions, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 2011 by David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90. Single exposure. I tried a number of soft focus images of this composition. This was the frame that seemed to work best, but I'm still not sure if it is as I would like it to be.

After being warm enough to skinny dip on October 1, it snowed the morning of October 5. The temperatures dropped from 85 plus degrees Fahrenheit in a few days down to 34 degrees with a light dusting of snow. The temperature drop brought on the Fall color. During the first week of October, in a sea of green leaves I saw only one yellow Indian Rhubarb leaf. Today I will go check on more patches of wild Indian Rhubarb, but I believe I missed the peak of the Fall color for the Indian Rhubarb, which is a shame. I had looked forward to a lot of Fall color photography this year, but it has been for the most part a disappointment, except for in my mother’s garden right around the house where her dogwoods and Japanese maples were consistently brilliant in oranges, yellows, and reds as usual. The Virginia Creeper also proved disappointing, changing straight from green to red without much in between this year. For more contemporary landscape photography see the blog post, “David Leland Hyde Archival Print Pre-Launch.”

Was your Fall color season unusual this year? Where did you photograph?

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Posted in David's Perspective

Tags: archival fine art digital prints aspens California David Leland Hyde Fall color fine art photography Indian Creek Indian Rhubarb landscape photography Leaves of Grass mountain landscapes Nikon D90 oaks Oregon Sierra Nevada straight photography U. S. Forest Service Walt Whitman wilderness

Brett Weston Centennial Exhibition

November 3rd, 2011

Scott Nichols Gallery is pleased to present Brett Weston, Centennial, an exhibition of photographs spanning over six decades.

The exhibition will be on view from Thursday November 3rd through Saturday, December 31st.

Brett Weston, born December 16, 1911 inherited his father Edward Weston’s love and gift for photography. In the fall of 1925 Edward Weston loaned Brett Weston a 3 ¼ x 4 ¼ Graflex camera. After a few basic instructions from his famous father, Brett Weston’s first photographic explorations gave way to an active career spanning over 68 years. Brett Weston not only assisted Edward Weston, but also collaborated and influenced his esteemed father.

At sixteen he had his first exhibition at UCLA along side his father, Edward Weston. International recognition followed, eighteen of his photographs were included in the influential German exhibition “Film and Foto” in 1929, which brought together an international group of artists with a highly progressive outlook. He also was part of the Group f.64 show at the M.H. De Young Museum in San Francisco in 1932. By the time Brett Weston was in his early 20s his photographs were exhibited in Europe, Japan and throughout the United Sates.

Brett Weston set himself apart from his father by pushing his work into the realm of abstraction, and thus participating in the mid-century movement of abstract art. Brett Weston bridged the gap between representation and abstraction by creating images that were realistically rendered yet composed in such a way as to emphasize abstraction in composition and form. His accomplishments in photography could be seen as a key to understanding the basic tenants of abstract art as expressed by artists working in more obviously interpretive mediums. Merle Armitage wrote of Brett Weston’s work in 1956: “Here are the patterns, the arrangements, the designs and the evocations sought by the finest abstract painters.”

Generally considered one of the finest printers in photography, Brett Weston produced sixteen portfolios of original photographs, starting with San Francisco in 1939. He believed passionately in the power of his original black and white prints and chose the photographic portfolio as the way to reach an expanded audience while still maintaining control over image quality.

Brett Weston’s photographs have been exhibited in hundreds of galleries and museums including the J. Paul Getty Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Modern Art New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, George Eastman House, the Whitney Museum, Amon Carter Museum, National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Museum among others.

Scott Nichols Gallery

www.scottnicholsgallery.com

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Posted in Events-Releases

Tags: 3 ¼ x 4 ¼ Graflex Camera Amon Carter Museum Black and White Prints Brett Weston California darkroom Edward Weston Europe Film and Photo fine art photography George Eastman House Group f.64 J. Paul Getty Museum Japan landscape photography M. H. De Young Museum Merle Armitage Museum of Modern Art New York National Gallery of Art San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Scott Nichols Gallery straight photography The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Smithsonian the Whitney Museum UCLA west coast tradition

Monday Blog Blog: Review Of ‘Light And Land’ by Michael Frye

October 31st, 2011

Monday Blog Blog: Review Of Light And Land: Landscapes In the Digital Darkroom By Michael Frye

Light And Land E-Book Promotional Image.

(What in the world is Monday Blog Blog? See the blog post, “Monday Blog Blog Celebration.”)

Michael Frye’s articulate, yet casual writing style in Light And Land: Landscapes In The Digital Darkroom, easily conveyed ideas to me that perhaps had seemed more complicated or even intimidating before. Right from the start I felt relaxed as though he would take me through a challenging journey safely. For example:

In this book I’ll take you step-by-step through each decision as I process five different images in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. You’ll see my workflow in action, and I’ll explain why I use particular techniques in a particular order. But more importantly, you’ll come to understand the aesthetic judgments behind each decision… you’ll gain insights about how to convey your own unique vision, and how to squeeze every ounce of beauty, emotion, and inspiration out of your photographs…. While I use Lightroom for these examples, the basic principles apply to any software. Learning how to make good decisions and find the right balance is more important than learning any particular tool or technique.

“OK, I’m in,” I said to myself. “I can do this.” Michael Frye then rolled right into Highlight and Shadow Detail, Black Points and White Points, Workflow, Curves, Tools, Default Settings, Finding Direction and other sections in the natural flow of his work on digital images. These sections, besides explaining technical concepts in non-technical terms, made the process seem simple, but not too simple. Many photography how-to books wax long on technique, but Michael Frye showed me what to do with the techniques to create images that bring out my own vision. He also told me how to best apply each technique depending on what I intend to accomplish in each photograph. In my view, this makes Michael Frye an above average teacher. No wonder he teaches workshops through the Ansel Adams Gallery. No wonder he is the author of the traditional paper paged book Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Masters. Michael Frye knows what he is doing regarding the unique considerations in landscape photography post processing. In his e-book, Light And Land: Landscapes In The Digital Darkroom, he also sprinkled in his own wit and wisdom for landscape photography in general:

…In some other photography genres the photographer is often concerned with only one subject. Landscape photography frequently requires blending many different ingredients in a harmonious way.

Or:

…Landscape photography is all about communicating the mood of a particular place at a particular time.

Or:

Ultimately it doesn’t matter whether you prefer using Curves or some other tool, what default settings you start with, or even what software you use. The goal is to make the image communicate something, and there are many ways to accomplish that. Knowing what you want to say is more important than using a particular procedure.

At the top of Michael Frye’s section on Workflow, he listed for us readers in order the various steps he takes in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Then he elaborated on each one. He showed how he goes about each step in a sort of “real time” demonstration on his landscape photographs.

He explained that “in a book of this size it’s impossible to describe every nuance and keyboard shortcut in Lightroom.” Then he went on to recommend the two books I already have on Lightroom, but have never read, how handy is that? Plus Michael Frye recommended one more book on Lightroom by David DuChemin called Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. The other two books I have are Martin Evening’s The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers and D65′s Lightroom Workbook: Workflow, Not Workslow in Lightroom 3 by Seth Resnick and Jamie Spritzer.

Having watched master landscape photographer Carr Clifton work with curves since 2008, but having only minimally tried it myself, I found Michael Frye’s explanation of curves to be the easiest to understand of any I have read. To check out the Photoshop and Lightroom resources I have either studied or gathered and not yet studied, see the blog posts, “Monday Blog Blog: Photoshop For Pros” and “Monday Blog Blog: Lewis Kemper.”

What I liked about Michael Frye’s style of presentation in Light And Land: Landscapes In The Digital Darkroom was that he urged the reader to think and make decisions. He asked many questions that put me into action in processing images along with him and starting in on my own. His sections called “Evaluation” in Light and Land and on his “In The Moment: A Landscape Photography Blog” have encouraged and inspired us students of landscape photography to jump right in and get involved.

Michael Frye powerfully wound up Light And Land by advising us to go to galleries and museums and look at the finished product: fine art digital prints. He said not just to look at them but to ask yourself his many evaluation questions:

When viewing prints, look at the contrast. How much of the photograph is pure white? How much pure black? Is the print dramatic or understated? Notice the color balance and saturation. With black-and-white prints, check for slight color tints.

To bring home his e-book coaching Michael Frye in Light And Land quoted Ansel Adams, one of the world’s greatest fine art print makers of all time:

The difference between a very good print and a fine print is quite subtle and difficult, if not impossible, to describe in words. There is a feeling of satisfaction in the presence of a fine print—and uneasiness with a print that falls short of optimum quality.

The only aspect of Light And Land I don’t like is that it is too short. I would like to learn much more and have Michael Frye go into greater depth in many of the areas of his coaching in this e-book. Fortunately, Light And Land is priced at what David DuChemin termed the “outrageously low price” of only $5.00. If you look around some you may even find a coupon to purchase the e-book for $4.00. I recommend that each of you who takes the digital printing of landscape photography seriously not wait any longer: buy the book now. Michael Frye will show you how to make that subtle difference, referred to by Ansel Adams, in your fine art digital prints. To order go to Light And Land: Landscapes In The Digital Darkroom.

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Posted in Reviews

Tags: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Ansel Adams Ansel Adams Gallery archival fine art digital prints California Carr Clifton darkroom David DuChemin digital darkroom digital photography fine art digital prints fine art photography landscape photography Lewis Kemper Michael Frye Monday Blog Blog mountain landscapes National Parks Philip Hyde Photoshop Sierra Nevada wilderness Yosemite National Park

Living The Good Life 1

October 11th, 2011

Living The Good Life, Part One

Reflections by Nancy E. Presser on the book that launched the 1950s Back to the Land movement, Living the Good Life: How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World by Helen and Scott Nearing, and how Ardis and Philip Hyde implemented the book’s philosophy…

Nancy E. Presser is a California Certified Massage Therapist and Certified Yoga Instructor. A California native, she grew up camping in Yosemite National Park and exploring the tide pools of the Isthmus, now Twin Harbors, on Catalina Island, California. In 2002, she self-published a cook book called “Fun To Be Sugar Free” and has had her poetry and articles published off and online. She took graphic design classes and majored in Theatre Arts at Tulane and Cal State Long Beach, obtaining further art education by working for Martin Lawrence Galleries and Wyland Galleries. Since 1998 she has been a Massage Therapist and Tai Chi practitioner. Since 2008 she has taught Radiant Health Yoga and Yang Style Tai Chi classes. She now operates Sacred Space Energetic Healing Arts, in the Indian Valley town of Greenville, California.

Living The Good Life With Ardis And Philip Hyde, Part One

By Nancy E. Presser

The first day I met David Leland Hyde, he introduced me to the life and work of his late mother and father, Ardis and Philip Hyde. David explained his father’s life long dedication to wilderness conservation through landscape photography of the American West. David also shared how his father designed, drew the plans and built the family home.

Even though David was fighting off a mid-winter flu, he still took the time to lead me through the Hyde house and Philip Hyde’s photography studio. David said that his father built the place himself over two years beginning in 1957. Ardis Hyde helped in the evenings and taught kindergarten during the day. They acquired 18 acres and built what was originally a 1200 square foot home plus garage and studio, all on Ardis’ school teaching salary. Quite a feat I think even in the 1950s.

After I knew David better he shared with me that everything around us in the home, the flat roof, the solar hot water panels, the clarestory windows, the raised bed vegetable garden, the fruit trees and the whimsical stone lined pond and flower garden were all ideals of self reliance and low impact living that his parent’s adopted back in the 1950s. The foundation of the Hyde’s living philosophy came from the book Living the Good Life: How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World by Helen and Scott Nearing. This Amazon link goes to the original version which is now out of print and only available used. The new version, The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing’s Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living, contains the Nearing’s first book Living The Good Life and their second book Continuing The Good Life all in one volume for one low price. Recently, David happened to have his mom’s personal copy of Living The Good Life around and loaned it to me to read.

David is a voracious reader and has loaned or recommended many books to me to read in the time I have known him. However, intuition told me that reading this book was a priority. He first presented Living the Good Life to me in a way that made a lasting impression. He said:

In the 1990s I planted a garden at my place in Pecos, New Mexico. My mother gave me advice regularly and a local green thumb friend also taught me quite a few tricks to gardening in that area. For example, if you plant Marigolds around the perimeter of your vegetable garden it greatly decreases pesky bugs and slugs. As I delved back into gardening, I thought back on the vegetable gardens I had planted with my mother and on the gigantic 40X60 foot plantation that she tended in various years. I also realized that she was probably one of the foremost experts on gardening for butterflies in the Northern Sierra Nevada of California. At the same time some friends of mine had bought land outside Santa Fe, New Mexico and were building and farming. One day while visiting my parents in California, I interviewed my mother about vegetable gardening and gardening for butterflies. I recorded the interview, which turned out to be a delightful discourse between us and illustrated very well my mother’s deep knowledge and love of plants, insects and other aspects of pesticide-free gardening. I wish now that I had made dozens of tapes of her because she was an expert in canning, freezing, preserving, making her own soap, bread, cheese, butter, tofu and many other household items and foods. At the end of our session, she pulled me close and said very seriously, “David, here’s the basis of your mother and father’s philosophy and what we based our home lifestyle upon,” as she handed me her copy of Living The Good Life. She passed on not long afterwards. Ironically, I have only read the first few chapters. Living The Good Life has been on my list for a long time, ever since her passing in 2002. I regret that I did not get a chance to read it and discuss it while she was alive.

Because I now had a key into the insight of Ardis and Philip Hyde, I opened this crucial book to see how I could get to know the Hyde’s better and to learn more about growing a life close to the land. Being a city girl from Long Beach I never lived on the land and I wanted to learn how people did it. The closest I’ve ever come was when I helped create a cooperative organic garden outside San Diego, which we called the Edible Village. We cultivated structures out of plants. We made a dome from collected branches that became a bean and herb garden. We also built a corn maze for the kids and a labyrinth out of plants and rocks. Each participant picked out his or her own stone along the perimeter. We also had chickens and practiced biodynamic composting. I will share more about all of this in blog posts to come in this series. The introduction to Living The Good Life, written in the 1930s, and preface, written in the 1970s, are all about how crazy and chaotic the world was then. What struck me was that nothing has changed. Meanwhile, I have been working to simplify my own life over the last 10 years.

David noticed that I continued reading Living The Good Life more than most of the other books he had shown me. He asked me if I would like to write about my reflections as I read the book and how it relates to what I am discovering about the lifestyle of the Hydes. Helen and Scott Nearing, as well as Ardis and Philip Hyde in kind, had approaches to life that serve as examples that can guide us today toward living more happily and sustainably. What I find most fascinating about reading The Good Life now is that although the first publication of the book was in 1954 and the sixth printing was in 1971, we still have the same, if not worse, chaotic, degenerating society.

Helen and Scott Nearing wrote Living The Good Life after coming out of the Depression of the 1930s:

We had tried living in several cities, at home and abroad. In varying degrees we met the same obstacles to a simple, quiet life—complexity, tension, strain, artificiality, and heavy overhead costs. These costs were payable only in cash, which had to be earned under conditions imposed upon one by the city—for its benefit and advantage. Even if cash income had been of no concern to us, we were convinced that it was virtually impossible to counter city pressures and preserve physical health, mental balance and social sanity through long periods of city dwelling. After careful consideration we decided that we could live a saner, quieter, more worthwhile life in the country than in any urban or suburban center.

For further reading see also Helen Nearing’s latest book, Loving and Leaving the Good Life, written after Scott Nearing passed on at age 100. Here’s Wilda Williams’ Library Journal description:

This quiet and reserved memoir is a tribute to the “good life” and the ideals of self-sufficiency, simplicity, socialism, and pacifism that Helen and Scott Nearing shared for 53 years. Helen was 24 years old in 1928 when she met Scott, a married 45-year-old economics professor who had been blacklisted by universities and publishers for his radical views. In 1932, the Nearings left New York City for a Vermont farm, beginning the homesteading life described in their Living the Good Life (1954), the bible of the back-to-the-land movement. Later, they moved to Maine where, during the 1960s and 1970s, they played host to 2000 visitors a year. For Scott and Helen, old age was a “time of fulfillment. Scott kept his strength and bearing all through his last decades.” But as he neared his 100th birthday in 1983, he chose to leave the good life peacefully by fasting. Helen is a modest narrator, at times so self-effacing that she switches into third person as when she discusses her relationship with the Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. Still, her eloquent chapter on death and old age and her loving portrait of a remarkable man makes this a recommended purchase…

Both the Nearings and the Hydes managed to find and implement the Good Life. How would you define The Good Life?

(Continued in the next blog post, “Living The Good Life 2.”)

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Posted in Living Lightly

Tags: American West archival fine art digital prints Ardis Hyde back to the land movement biodynamic gardening California Catalina Island David Leland Hyde gardening Greenville Helen and Scott Nearing Indian Valley landscape photography Living The Good Life Massage mental balance Modern Environmentalism mountain landscapes Nancy E. Presser New Mexico Nikon D90 Northern California Pecos Philip Hyde physical health Plumas County poetry Rough Rock Sacred Space Energetic Healing Arts Santa Fe self-reliance self-sufficient Sierra Nevada Tai Chi Therapeutic Massage wilderness Yoga Yosemite National Park