I’m getting ahead of myself, but not really. I meant to post from the NFC Championship football game in Atlanta, but found that time is not my buddy anymore. I did venture outside of Atlanta to photograph the countryside and for sure the piney woods of Georgia has splendor all its own. Hopefully the text I’ve written will have a few photos to go along with it..I promise to finish it up today…really…but first, here are some local photos from the past week or so.
A colorful cold dawn greets the Laguna de Santa Rosa, Friday Jan. 11, 2013 in Sebastopol. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat) 2013
I’m pretty sure the Press Democrat is one of only a handful of newspapers that routinely publish scenic photos. So often we get caught up in the news of the day, who did what to whom, etc.
Some days, you have to slow down and soak it all in; for in that moment the grandeur and splendor of Sonoma County can look exceptionally brilliant for a few short minutes.
Geese fly-in to the calm waters of the Laguna de Santa Rosa, Friday Jan. 11, 2013. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat) 2013
How many pictures have been taken of the Laguna de Santa Rosa? Millions to be sure. Me? I’m not sure, but the frames would number in the thousands.
A coyote searches for gophers in a vineyard off the Silverado Trail near St. Helena, Thursday Jan. 17, 2013. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat) 2013
And being lucky is a huge part of this job of photo J. I was headed to an assignment above Sonoma County’s cousin, the Napa Valley and having a little time to kill, was attempting to get a scenic of icy vines. I turned down a little side road and right there was a coyote searching for some grub.
Just POL. Plain ‘ol Lucky.
At a Kendall-Jackson vineyard Wednesday Jan. 23, 2013 on Geysers Road above Alexander Valley, a field worker repairs part of the irrigation system on a rainy, foggy afternoon. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat) 2013
Any other time of the day under a cloudless sky, these oak trees on Geysers Road a thousand feet above the Alexander Valley have no distinguishing qualities, nor does the vineyard really. They are difficult to silhouette and way too far up the mountain to photograph without trespassing. Tasked with finding a weather photo of someone, anyone, working in a vineyard during a non-rain event storm, I cruised for miles looking for that right moment. I was invariably a few minutes late, workers seemed to be finishing-up when I would drive by.
Ex-as-per-ated, I took a chance and drove up that windy route to the geysers field and found one person working in a vineyard.
POL not SOL.
-Kent Porter
