If you like silhouettes, this post is for you. Imagine the frustration of sitting in traffic and watching a brilliant sunset fade from the sky. Yup, that was me on Wednesday, stuck on Highway 12 trying to make it to the Laguna de Santa Rosa in an feeble attempt to [...]
December and another clear moonrise. It's been a banner year for the full moon, especially in California. Not many rain clouds…the full moon over the Laguna de Santa Rosa, Monday evening. -Kent Porter
Red sky at night...The big chill is over. The Laguna de Santa Rosa lit up this evening as a fading cold front brushed high clouds over Sonoma County, leading to a rich color display. -Kent Porter
Days of ice at the Laguna de Santa Rosa (and elsewhere) will come to an end by the middle of the (Thursday?) week. For the time being, the ice remains. Thanks to the Sonoma County Bird Rescue Center [...]
Icy! Thursday morning was to be the coldest morning of the week: It was! 19 beautiful degrees. My midwestern Facebook friends are chuckling at our cold snap. Hey! Don't diss our version of the tundra! just wait until you pay eight dollars a pound for oranges because the San Joaquin [...]
It was only a year ago that the North Coast was pummeled by vicious wind and driving rain. Santa Rosa had recorded nearly a foot of precipitation for the water year, a half-foot above normal. As many remember, the atmospheric pineapple connection shut down after that. The remaining calendar year [...]
After a brief (they always seem that way) vacation, I was back down at the Laguna de Santa Rosa Monday, sort of the calm before the big chill. The water was placid, and the sky was mostly clear. Then, walking back to my car, I made a mistake [...]
Originally, I went to the Laguna de Santa Rosa Tuesday to photograph Jose Ochoa feeding his cattle alfalfa hay, near the intersection of Occidental and Sanford Roads. I'm continuously surprised by how the light changes from minute to minute and the dichotomy of the Laguna which provides multiple opportunities to [...]
After last weeks summer revival, Monday has started off like winter; icy windshields, more water in the Laguna de Santa Rosa from the last mini rain episode and cows making their rounds through the steam shrouded wetlands. Now all we need is about four inches of rain to bring everything [...]
My apologies go out to Sunridge Charter School of Sebastopol for not posting pictures of their Lantern Walk in the Laguna de Santa Rosa Friday, November 22. The group of second graders construct paper lanterns and walk the connected paths around the Laguna Wetlands Preserve in Sebastopol, singing a variety [...]
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