The big burn

In case you are wondering where that lovely smoky smell is coming from a 10,000 acre fire is burning its way along the foothills south of town along Corral Hollow canyon since Thursday afternoon. The fire is just about 20% contained and may burn for a day or so more. Here is a look at the Corral Fire as it is being called as it burned into Thursday night and Friday morning.

It's not just a fire, it's a special event!

I think they should have put up a different sign, something like "Closed due to massive grass fire" or something.

Motion

I remember my first day of junior college at San Joaquin Delta many years ago. I had signed up the Photo 1 class and the first day we watched a slide show by Ernst Haas. It had his images of bullfights where he used a slow shutter speed to captures the swirling motions and colors of the matadors and bulls.

When the slide show was over the instructor looked at me and asked me what I thought. "It stinks" was my reply. "Nothing is in sharp focus." So the instructor stops and gives a 10 minute lecture on his shooting style and seeing color as movement. When he is done he looks at me and says "You still don't like the photos do you?"


So jump ahead several years and standing on in the Kimball High parking lot I decide to channel some Haas magic as I look for creative colors in the movement. Slow shutter speed shots like this are simple camera pans. It's an easy trick you can do with just about any camera, film or digital.



I wonder what my photo instructor would say now looking at these pictures?

It's Pet of the Week day!!!

It's always a party when I shoot the pet of the week assignment. Everyone is always excited to see me and my camera show up at the Animal Shelter. Well some are more excited than others.

Sunset

Smoke from two lightening-sparked wildfires in Shasta County has blanketed the central valley in a brown haze. Over 26,000 acres have burned sending the smoke plume up and across the valley. The skies above Tracy have been tinged a brown hue from the smoke making for unhealthy conditions but pretty sunsets.

Our town

For the second time in five months I found my self at the entrance of a mobile home park photographing a police investigation into a murder. A 58-year-old woman lay dead inside her home at the Green Oaks Mobile Home Park from multiple stab wounds to her upper body. The second murder in five months in my hometown. Our town

It seems hard to believe. Murders are few and far in between, or at least that was the way it used to be. For those that think Tracy is a sleepy little Hamlet they are greatly mistaken. It has its share of crime and violence. I just can’t seem to remember it being so close together before.
Through the years I have covered many spot news scenes. Bank robberies, shootings, assaults and the occasional homicide I photographed them all. One of my first assignments after joining the Press was the story of a young clerk working at the Chevron gas station on north Tracy Boulevard who was gunned down one night during a robbery. A senseless killing I remember photographing the family at the Tracy Police station as they sought clues about the killer who was eventually caught.

I don’t remember the names of a lot of the victims but I do remember the pictures. There was the SWAT team that arrested the killers of a young man shot in his home when gang members broke in looking for his parent’s firearms collection. The crying suspects in court of three people who strangled a man to death in his bed during a session of what they called “kinky sex.”
Just recently Tracy marked a somber anniversary as the parents of Jason Bowen And Samuel Salinas marked 10 years since their murders. I can remember being in the Bowen family’s home working on the story and the pain in their eyes. It never gets easy dealing with stories like this and even 10 years later it was hard to talk to the parents about the murder of their children.

The unsolved killing of a man in Alden Park was a lingering reminder that Tracy has its fair share of big city crime but nothing could prepare us for the Sandra Cantu murder case. If any residents thought they were living in Mayberry and could sleep with doors open at night that tragic two weeks brought them back to reality.

And now I I’m standing at the crime scene tape once again looking at another tragedy. A woman killed, no reason why yet, two suspects in custody and more proof that bad things do happen in our town. But things aren't as bad as they sound.
Look at the news coming from Stockton and the plethora of shootings that occur there on what it seems like a daily basis and you feel glad you’re sleeping in the Tracy city limits. Someone told me that Stanislaus County is up to about 18 homicides this year. I look at the San Joaquin Sheriff’s report every day at the roll call of crime and brutality around us in the county is enough to make some think of life in Alaska or some other remote location.

Our town does have its problems but it could be so much worse. I am glad that when an event like this murder happens it shocks the community. We are not living in a town where murders are common place. We don't live in fear of where will the next murder happen or who will die next. This crime happened here but it is not a sign of who we are as a community.

This morning I photographed the dedication of a new playground at Jacobson School in memory of Sandra Cantu. I think that is a true picture of who we are. Strangers and friends gathered together to remember a lost love one, helping one another and never giving in to fear. That is Tracy, our town.

Going minimalist

I have a couple of death march hikes planned for this month and I got to thinking about what equipment to take. For my last long treks up the mountain I tried stripping down my six-megapixel Digital Rebel down to just the body with the lightest lens and that worked out ok. But with sizzling August temperatures ahead I decided to trim way down and picked up this little pocket camera.
Made by Canon the Powershot A1100 IS fits in the palm of my hand, weighs next to nothing and still boasts a respectable 12.1-megapixel file size even though it is with a reduced size sensor. It has a simple movie mode (not HD) and should travel well with the pack. The only downside to the camera is it is hungrily fueled by two AA batteries. NihMI batteries will probably last longer but on these death marches it usually turns out I shoot fewer photos. It also has a viewfinder I can use to conserve power instead of composing pictures on the LCD screen on the camera's back. I'll be giving it is first field test in about a week and will post some pictures from the hike

Brainiacs

Summer stroll

With Alice getting ready to head to Africa for a month we headed out for a quick hike in the near Berkley.



Checking the Bay Area Hiker web page we found an easy hike at the Kennedy Grove Regional Recreational Area in Orinda. It is small secluded park near the San Pablo Reservoir with eucalyptus groves and hiking trails that wind through the hill over looking the reservoir.










We had planned for a quick 3-mile hike but once on the trail we decided on a slightly longer loop. The trail is steep in spots and the brush is thickly laced with poison oak. Temperatures were mild as fog rolled along the ridge line.





Manzanitas tree joined the eucalyptus trees on the trail and is spot there leaves and bark mingle in a colorful carpet on the trail.

It was a quick hike just enough to stretch our legs as Alice heads off for a month. I am planning a couple long hikes in the weeks to come, should be fun as the summer heat kicks in.