King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Parks

Photographs

Towering might.

The giant sequoia that grow here at elevations of 5-7,000 feet are the oldest known living things, with ages up to 3,200 years. A half-day drive from San Francisco, these adjacent national parks are less favored by tourists than Yosemite, which is all the better. However, quite why many parents see fit to bring their infants remains a mystery – their children would be safer at home and certainly cannot comprehend what is on view here. And their incessant screaming hardly helps with the spirit of place.

I spent a couple of days there with my son, staying at the only game in town – the Wuksachi Lodge – and we had a great time in the 50F daytime crisp weather. At this time of the year several roads remain closed but the major throughway – The Generals’ Highway – was clear with no snow in sight.


Winston atop the 6,725 ft Moro Rock overlooking the Great Western Divide.
The thin air at this altitude makes for a solid workout on the way up.


Sunning among the giants.


Fallen giant. Beetles have created an abstract art form.


The General Sherman tree showing fire damage to the bark from hundreds of years ago.
A youngster at 2,200 years or so, the Sherman in Sequoia NP is 25 feet in diameter and weighs over 2,000 tons.


We enjoyed picture perfect weather.


Many sequoias grow in close proximity to one another.


Thick bark confers fire resistance and high tannin content prevents disease.


Siamese twins.


The Generals’ Highway runs through the parks – a miracle of roadbuilding.


The light snow cover on the peaks testifies to California’s drought.
Instead of building a water pipeline from nearby Canada, our politicians – devoid of imagination or business acumen – are enforcing conservation.


Death from toppling over is the major cause of the giants’ demise, owing to the shallow root structure.


The 1,700 year old General Grant tree in King’s Canyon – sequoias routinely shed branches as they grow.

All snaps taken by my son Winston on his Panasonic LX100 except for the first, taken by me on an iPhone 6.

Big boys:

Local roads:

If you enjoy a nice drive the route below is recommended – it goes through both parks and skirts their west side along Dry Creek Drive (a B road, but drivable) via Three Rivers in the south-west corner, as beautiful a loop as you could hope for, and mostly deserted on the weekday we did it. The pointer denotes the Wuksachi Lodge – maybe the most overpriced motel in America:


Click the image for route details.

Bikers should check out The Mountain House in a lovely location where Dry Creek Drive and Highway 245 meet.

Coulterville

Photographs

Magic.

Coulterville, on the west side of Yosemite, is best approached, on two wheels or four, from Mariposa, the site of California’s oldest operating courthouse. No, there are no cops as they have no place to hide while trying to raise the donut and coffee fund.

I have done this trip several times on two and four wheels but it is now very special indeed as the road has been newly resurfaced and is glass smooth. Who the bureaucrat who spent all this taxpayer money on a road used by a dozen cars daily was, I do not know, but all us petrol heads are glad to know that the squares who do not appreciate internal combustion are subsidizing us in this effort. Heck, looking at the magic strip of tarmac that is the Mariposa-Coulterville road, aforesaid apparatchik is likely a petrol head too!

The trip may exceed the destination, yet Coulterville is very special indeed. Just look:

All snapped on the Panasonic LX100 at ISO400.

Shadi Gadirian and Boushra Almutawakel

Photographers

Iranian woman photographers.

Ordinarily gender is irrelevant when it comes to good photography. All that matters is the image. But when the photographer is a member of one of the most ill treated subsets of humanity then gender becomes supremely relevant.


Click the image for Gadirian’s web site.

Iranian Shadi Gadirian’s work is a slap in the face, illustrated with gorgeously lit and composed still lives each with an instrument of death incongruously placed in the image, that same violent death which is an ever present factor in much of Middle Eastern and Northern African life.

I came across Gadirian’s work in what at first seemed a pretty unprepossessingly titled show at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University: “She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World”. The exhibition – not large but mostly comprised of very large prints – turned out to be absolutely gripping.


Click the image for more details.

Another rivetting image is one by Yemeni female photographer Boushra Almutawakel which shows women with their faces progressively more covered by the veils they are forced to wear in what is an ultimate statement of cruelty – denying beauty its rightful exposure to sunlight:


Click the image for Almutawakel’s web site.

Here’s another stunner from Almutawakel, titled “What If…?”:

If ever a picture were worth a thousand (angry) words, this is it.

There’s lots more to enjoy and wonder at in this fine show, which runs thorugh May 4, 2015; Stanford U and the Cantor Arts Center are in Palo Alto, CA. Encomiums to Stanford for putting on this fearless exhibition.

Barbara’s Fish Trap

Dining

In Half Moon Bay.

True to form Half Moon Bay was socked in when my son and I dropped by for lunch today at Barbara’s Fish Trap today. Barbara’s has been around for ever and we celebrated with, what else, fish and chips.

The setting is perfect, the place has a ramshackle, broken down feel unchanged all these years, and the fish is excellent. Bring cash as they do not take credit cards.

Wall Street – Financial Capital

Book reviews

Book review.


Click the image for Amazon.

Nearly a decade ago I made mention of Gambee’s other Wall Street book, Wall Street Christmas.

The book in this review is every bit as good, replete with magnificent photographs of the grand facades of Wall Street buildings and many of their interiors. The finance industry has long known that if you are to accrue great wealth at the expense of your customer base, you have to present an image of carefully crafted respectability, meaning marble and mahogany. The execution of this belief is abundantly on display in Gambee’s work.

Even if you are no great fan of the banksters who every so often bring the global financial system to its knees, you will enjoy the photography in this splendid book. Mine came from Amazon but took some three months between order and arrival, so be prepared to wait. It’s worth it.