Twenty four years ago today, I was hanging off the side of the Bay Bridge photographing the devastating effects of the Loma Prieta earthquake which so rudely shattered the lives of those living in the Bay Area. I was at the Laguna de Santa Rosa this evening photographing birds. Oddly, [...]
On the very southern edge of the Laguna de Santa Rosa is a series of connected flood control channels at Stony Point Road and Rohnert Park Expressway. In the past couple of years the Santa Rosa Pumpkin Patch has sprouted from the fertile flood plain, the Laguna soil ideal for [...]
There are days. There are days you are happy just to wake up. Smell the air; feel the bite of autumn and the soft, crisp sound of leaves underfoot. Bask in the grace of Indian Summer, wipe the sweat from your brow; bundle up at twilight and listen to the [...]
Obviously it's been a few days since I posted anything of the Laguna de Santa Rosa. You can blame the Oakland A's and the 49ers. Here you are... -Kent Porter
Yup, that time of year. It rained on Monday but that doesn't mean summer or fire season is over quite yet. A classic fall offshore wind event is setting up as a low pressure system will drop in to the Great Basin that will interact with building high pressure. When [...]
The sunrise was diffused in steam fog this morning, making for an interesting photograph. -Kent Porter
Sunny one minute, cloudy the next. Muggy to boot. That means a photog needs to be quick and make a picture. Another day at the Laguna de Santa Rosa. -Kent Porter
Egrets take to the sky over the Laguna de Santa Rosa. -Kent Porter
My father farmed the panhandle of Oklahoma way back in teens and the 20's of the 20th century. Our family raised wheat and corn, but wheat was the mainstay. He would tell of stories of dawn 'till dusk farming and the exceptionally hard existence of beating the odds on the [...]
Loamy soil deposited from rains along the Laguna de Santa Rosa, mean perfect growing conditions at R. Castañeda Farms off Guerneville Road in Santa Rosa. Workers were busy picking late summer / early fall green zucchini and Mediterranean squash early Thursday morning Sept. 26. In an area that easily sees five [...]
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