General Info page
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This photo-journal website is meant to be of general interest to anyone who stops by. The main subject is my appreciation for attractive landscapes, wherever they are found. The website is an important outlet for my writing/editing compulsions, and it is always fun to mess around with a batch of digital photos. As you can tell on the UK tips, I'm also a history nut.
Intellectual Property Dept. - except where cited (web photos), all images shown on this site were taken by me, and I am responsible for any content or comments regarding the photos, but you'll find no controversy here. I strive to get historical info right via correlation from multiple sources.
Website History - I began posting digital photos in October 2001, and among the first pages was a Carson Pass walk to Lake Winnemucca in late September, with 24 hikers, facilitated by my friend Rich. It was the start of my involvement with his hiking group, which over the following years provided me with a lot of 'grist for the mill'. As I've written, since then, on this page, 'my photo pantry would be near-empty if not for Rich'. There is more below about him.
2025 Update - I recently posted photos from the Eastern Sierra Nevada trips from 2010 to 2023, see index. I put this together during 2025 as a tribute to Rich.
Security Dept. - I'm pretty sure visitors to this (officially unregistered) website consist mostly of family & hiking friends. Much more important, as regards website security is that the PC dedicated to photo editing & website maintenance is NEVER on the web, except to upload new content, maybe once a week, taking a few seconds at most.
Rich's monthly hikes - in fall 2023, my long-time hiking friend Rich had to retire from hiking and he is now living in the Auburn, Ca. area with his more than capable wife Linda. Early in '24 I took over the hiking group facilitation role and we're still going on a monthly basis as of April, '26.
Contact info - Should you have comments/questions, feel free to email me at mdimage@elkgrove.net
Privacy concerns - should you be the subject of one of my photos who prefers to not to be shown, just let me know.
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Epilogue - Photo history and artistic influences
Once I had an SLR in my hands, at 20, my main interest seemed to be in landscape photography, the first set of photos being of bare hardwood trees in winter, against lovely fall sunsets. I was driving on scenic route 100, which parallels the Brandywine River Valley (Wilmington, Delaware), ca. 1972.
I continued to take photos over the subsequent decades, especially when traveling and on camping/hiking trips. But by the mid-90s I had become discouraged with 35mm prints and only liked slides. which are admittedly cumbersome.
Once digital cameras came out around Y2K, with images now seen on a PC screen, I liked the Canon Powershot G series...G2, G4, G6, G10, G12 and finally G16. Some of the Eastern Sierra trip photos were taken with a Canon DSLR Rebel T6i. I continue to use a refurbished G16 (April '26) .
Artistic influences- I have learned a lot over the decades by going to art museums, wherever I have lived, or visited, seeking out landscape artists' depictions of scenery, so I was essentially 'taught by others'. It eventually became clear to me that similar artistic or aesthetic principles apply to good landscape paintings or photos.
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About Rich B. - In 1993 Rich and I sat in cubicles next to each other, on the 4th floor of the old orange brick County of Sacramento building at 7th and I Sts. We worked in the Public Facilities Financing Planning group. Rich was a Senior Planner and I was an Assistant Civil Engineer, and my first year being was spent writing Board documents to reimburse Developers' costs for building new bridges & roadways in the City of Elk Grove, where my wife and I soon moved.
We happened to be on the same 'wing' as the Public Works Directors, so we had to behave, but, Rich and I soon found subjects where we just could not stop laughing. I recall visiting Rich in Mark Manoff's rental unit downtown many times, to shoot the shit & drink red wine w/snacks for dinner. Rich was often working on his monthly KDVS radio show.
His two-hour show on Sundays was usually preceded by a Gospel Mass, so Rich often started his shows by focusing on the transitional period from Gospel to Jazz, from the 40s to the 60s, a wealth of material. That became his specialty
I was also on a few camping trips with Rich, but it was not until October 2001 that I joined Rich's monthly hiking group. Back then it was not unusual to have 20-25 attendees and, as it turned out, most of us were bureaucrats working for City, County or State.
Rich used to put a lot of time into planning the next hike, and typically his kitchen table was covered in books and maps. At the trailheads, Rich handed out copied pages from his extensive hiking library. Out walking, over the years, Rich taught all of us to recognize native and non-native plants; he did after all have a Botany Degree from Stanford. (Rich grew up in the Palo Alto area.)
All hikes back then were on Saturdays, and at one time we ranged as far as Half Moon Bay, Point Reyes or the Russian River are near Jenner, and we were often at East Bay Regional Parks, or Mt. Diablo, or, heading east on I-50 or I-80 (from Sacramento) into the Sierra Nevada mountains. It is usually an hour and 45 minutes' drive to Carson Pass (via I-50) or Donner pass (I-80), presenting us with a lot of trails to chose from.
Nowadays, with almost all of us retired, the hikes are on mid-week days, when traffic is much lighter. Also, because of continuous urban growth along local freeways, we never venture out as far as we used to. The hiking destinations, as shown, are not that far away, allowing hikers to get back before the worst traffic jams form on the I-80 corridor.
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