I went back in my files the other day looking for a vineyard picture I photographed on Cavedale Road near Sonoma in early March. As I was searching through the take, I came across this photo that shows a possible funnel cloud or a spin-up. We do get funnel clouds/tornadoes [...]
In this job, there's no avoiding water. Even when the sky is bright blue, I still manage to get soaked. On Tuesday I was assigned to cover frost protection measures in area vineyards. Of course, some growers had sprinklers running to coat young vines from near freezing temperatures. To get [...]
Mickey Mouse. Disneyland. A successful lesson in how to market your name brand. See those ears and those eyes and you know you've crossed the threshold to Toon Town. Rarely have I been there when something was not closed or being renovated. With a chuckle, I noticed Mickey peeking over [...]
Lets do lunch! Like I mentioned before, I-5 is a culinary wasteland so to speak. If you like fast food, I-5 is your Mecca. The list of fast food joints is respectable. Each off-ramp includes several on this list: Mc D's. Carl's Jr. Taco Bell. The Colonel. Del Taco. BK. [...]
Photojournalists have a certain diet. Each town offers places that are deemed a hole in the wall where journalists feel comfortable spending our hard earned money and getting the right amount of food for the buck. Sometimes you have to roll with it and create your own meal from a [...]
The first full moon of Spring appears Sunday March 28, 2010. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat) 2010 The First full moon of Spring 2010. A renewal of the growing season. My father told me that you had to wait one month to plant summer crops [...]
Satellite imagery this morning shows rain pushing in to far northern California, with high clouds filtering in over our SoCo. As the day rolls on, clouds will thicken up, leading to a 40% chance of rain tonight. As this week progresses, the National Weather Service forecast predicts rain well into Thursday [...]
Rainbows. They're fleeting. As much as I enjoy chasing weather, I find the color arch elusive. The best ones appear while you're on a freeway, in a wine cave or glued to a dentist's chair with two pounds of gauze crammed in your mouth. I chanced to travel a back [...]
It seems that the winter past wants to throw a curve our way. After last nights meager rain, .22 of an inch in Healdsburg (about the same for SR) it should clear out this afternoon and evening and then turn nice for weekend festivities, lower 70's in some areas by [...]
Pandemonium at the Sonoma County Farm Bureau's Ag Day today (Wednesday). Nearly 2,500 elementary school students took over the Lyttle Cow Palace at the fairgrounds. I'm happy to report that no llamas spit at anybody. There was a ton of adrenaline from the kids. If our government could [...]
How many frames in a photojournalists life? Millions. Literally.
I’ve lost count since I started shooting photos at eight years-old with a Polaroid Land Camera (which I still own). It’s a way of life this photojournalism thing which is endlessly fascinating. The trip along the way, now in my 31st year professionally and the last 25 with the Press Democrat, has been an adventure in life. What it has to offer, ranging from implausible beauty to the utterly cruel things life randomly pitches out have shaped and molded who I am. That means I get to witness history. Pretty cool, eh? This journey has included photographing lots of inanimate objects which can be terribly boring. I’ve also borne the brunt of people unhappy to see a photographer show up to document less than pleasant circumstances. Then there’s the weather, which wreaks havoc on the human race daily. So I document the clouds. My advice for anyone having a bad day is to go outside and take a picture of those clouds once in awhile. It will do wonders for the interior beast. Unless you are using a metal tripod in an electrical storm.
-Kent Porter