A Quick Pic

I was on my way out the door from an assignment today and I came across this scene. Geese crossing the road. Nothing special. But the light was really nice and one falling behind gave a little hop to get to the other end. I kinda like this shot and I wanted to share it. -M

A Small Piece of the Puzzle - Studying Large mouth Bass in the Delta

I recently did a story on my roommate Anna who is doing a study for her University of California Davis ecology grad program on large mouth bass in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. It is a pretty cool study aimed at determining what effects the non-native bass are having on the native fish like the endangered delta smelt. This is just a small piece of the puzzle regarding water usage throughout the state. Anna had the fun part. With the help of her assistants, she has been catching these bass, worm and pole style and then performing surgery on them to implant tracking devices. It was a pretty crazy process to watch. It will be interesting to see what happens next when the data will start pouring in.

August and Everything After

Another collection of photographs from a very overdue post. August like July was an incredibly slow month for us here at the paper. I have been taking the opportunity to put together a newer version of my Shopping for Dynamite book about the six month journey through South America with my brother Eric. The book is in it's final stages after countless edits and re designs. I will make an official post when it is completed. So for now here are some images that I have made lately. -M

California Reconnaissance

Ever since landing my job in Fairfield, California I have been hard pressed to get the time to go fly fishing. Regardless of the direction I could head, it would be a solid 2-3 hour drive to get to some decent trout streams. And with that knowledge, there always seemed to be something else occupying my attention. It was maddening. So when a scheduling change up at work allowed me a four day weekend, there was only one thing on my mind. I needed to get my line wet. My brother Eric is a pilot up in Alaska and after one of our weekly phone conversations, the idea of a road trip came up. One of the perks of his job is his ability to fly for free on Alaskan Airlines. I proposed a weekend fishing mission to the greater Yosemite National Park/Eastern Sierra mountains and he jumped at the idea. Weeks went by and all the necessary preparations were made. I picked Eric up at the San Francisco Airport around 11 p.m. and we decided to push on (4 hours) through the night driving all the way to Mammoth Lakes. Having never fished the area before, stopped at one of the local fly shops in the area called The Trout Fly and ended up getting the scoop from Granite, one of the knowledgeable guides in the shop. For the next three days we fished the Upper Owens River, Hot Creek and the Tuolumne River within Yosemite National Park landing countless 10-12 inch rainbows and brookies. Nothing to do cartwheels over, but it was a great opportunity to scratch the fly fishing itch, make some cool night photographs, explore the pretty scenery and catch up on each others lives while sharing a bourbon bottle between us.

Tahoe Sightseeing

A couple weeks ago, my morena Clara and I along with my two roommates Zach and Anna made a trek to Lake Tahoe to hike up Mt. Tallac. There was a great view from the top.

Harvest time

Harvest is in full swing here in California. Everywhere you can see the explosion of fruit stands along the roads and the numerous farmers markets in the small towns. Having started my own vegetable garden I now know the rewards of patience for letting your crop come into its maturity. What most people don't realize is that behind the scenes of the California law enforcement, another type of harvest is being conducted. The cultivating of marijuana. Eradication is a better word for it. Last week I was able to tag along with the Solano County Sheriff Department for a drug bust on a couple illegal pot gardens in the nearby hills of Pleasant Valley. This is nothing new for them. Every year law enforcement officials bust thousands of these gardens throughout the state. This time would be no different. The same protocol was applied. Find and identify the plants from helicopters in the air, organized your crew of undercover policemen and drug task force officers, and then send in the troops to disperse/arrest the growers on sight while eradicating the crops.

I was on hand to document the eradication of the plants. The law officials had identified about 6000 plant garden and by the time I had arrived, they had sent in their armed police officers to cut down and and haul out the goods. Unfortunately the press wasn't invited to this part of the event. We would have to wait at the drop point. The wait wasn't that long. Maybe twenty minutes. Then I looked up hearing the buzz of the on coming helicopter bringing in the drugs. It isn't everyday you have the county police placing thousands of marijuana plants at your feet. The familiar smell from college was engulfed all around us. As I stood on top of the awaiting dump truck I shot pictures as officers worked to free the plants from their transport nets. It was a surreal feeling to be crawling over literally hundreds of thousands dollars worth of drugs. I kept thinking it was so much fuss over such a simple plant. As I watched the officers pour diesel fuel over the massive pile of marijuana, I grabbed a six foot plant and had Vacaville Reporter photographer Rick Roach take a portrait of me. You never know when another opportunity like this would come again. Something tells me that living here in California, I won't have to wait to long. -M

A Lazy July

It was pretty incredible. June seemed like such a busy month for assignments and then July came around and instantly there was almost nothing. It has been a blessing and a curse. Good because I have been avoiding going out into the 100 degree heat of Fairfield and have instead been devoting my time to revamping my Shopping for Dynamite book. It has been bad because I haven't been shooting much photos. Hence the lack of July posts. I figured I would post some of my favorites of the month here.