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Photo of the Rocky Creek Bridge and Highway 1, the Cabrillo Highway, captured in Big Sur. Monterey County. Late January 2013.
Photo of McWay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park captured via Minolta MD Celtic 28mm f/2.8 Lens in Big Sur. Monterey County. Late October 2013.
Before. After
Anticipation. Fulfillment.
Excited. Inspired.
This is a very special BAM for me taken on the train up to Frankfurt last Sunday and then again on the way home. It's amazing how encouraging, exhilerating, how reassuring it can be to connect with like-minded people. When creativity flows from one individual to another, the skies not the limit, think instead the sun, moon and stars. I love these meetings that occur between kindred spirits. The love that floods your soul filling you with a renewed outlook on your art. Your photography. Your writing. Your life. The feeling that you have been touched by something bigger than yourself which can only make you grow in ways you can't yet percieve. Has this happened to you lately? I certainly hope so.
Photo captured via Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D AF Nikkor lens from Trinidad State Beach in the city of Trinidad. Humboldt County. Mid September 2013.
Photo looking towards Sharp Point captured via Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D AF Nikkor lens at the beach on the ocean side of Freshwater Lagoon. Humboldt Lagoons State Park. Humboldt County. Early October 2013.
A defining feature of the northern California coast is a large bulge that protrudes westward into the Pacific Ocean. Along this bulge are two points, separated by roughly eleven miles, which extend farther west than any other points along the Golden State's lengthy shoreline. The northernmost of these points is Cape Mendocino, and the southernmost is Punta Gorda, Spanish for substantial point. As ships hugged the California coast traveling northward, it is understandable how several ran aground on Punta Gorda. Between 1899 and 1907, at least eight ships met their end in the area. The initial request for a lighthouse to mark Punta Gorda was made in 1888, but it wasn't until after a fog-induced collision between the SS Columbia and the San Pedro on July 21, 1908, which claimed 87 lives, that congress appropriated funds for the Punta Gorda Lighthouse.
Materials to build the station arrived at the point by schooner in 1910. After being highlined to shore, they were loaded onto horse-drawn sleds, and dragged less than a mile south to the construction site. Within a year, three substantial dwellings, a blacksmith/carpenter shop, three storage sheds, a barn, and the fog signal building were completed. The fog signal began operation on June 22, 1911, but it would be approximately seven more months before the small 27-foot-tall lighthouse with a 23 by 12 foot base was completed. The flashing light from the lighthouse’s fourth-order lens was first exhibited on January 15, 1912. F.A. Harrington, Paschel Hunter, and W.E. Greer were the first three keepers to serve at Punta Gorda. The light station sits on a narrow bench bordered by hills rising abruptly to the east and the ocean spreading out to the west. The station was far from civilization. It was an eleven-mile journey by horseback or wagon to the small town of Petrolia, and the trip was only possible when the weather and tides permitted. The first oil wells drilled in California that produced crude to be refined and sold commercially were near Petrolia, hence the name of the town.
Wayne Piland, accompanied by his wife, a son, and a daughter, was transferred to Punta Gorda in 1934. Piland had served at three offshore stations, but he rated the task of getting supplies to Punta Gorda as “the toughest job you ever saw.” During the summer months, a team of horses could pull a supply wagon to Petrolia, but when winter set in, rushing streams and high surf limited travel to horseback. For several decades, “Old Bill” served as the stations four-footed link to the outside world. Old Bill was well acquainted with life at a lighthouse. He was born at a light station, served at Point Reyes, and arrived at Punta Gorda aboard a lighthouse tender. Wayne Piland’s daughter Nancy described Old Bill as “mean and ornery.” The horse also had a quirk that made him difficult to ride. Whenever he approached a puddle, no matter the size, he would try to jump across it. Fortunately, keeper Piland was experienced with horses, and after he braided a small whip, Piland and Old Bill got along just fine.
Like many other light stations along the California coast, Punta Gorda was used by the military during World Ward II. Several Coast Guard recruits were sent to patrol the beach south of the station towards Shelter Cove. The station's population was increased for a few years, but at the end of the war, the beach patrol was discontinued. The Coast Guard eventually built a road from the Mattole River along the foot of the bluffs to Windy Point and another section from Windy Point to the lighthouse. Outfitted with a jeep and a tractor, life at the station seemed much easier, but then the winter storms arrived. After heavy rains, water would stream down the canyons, severing the road in several places, and powerful, storm-driven surf would deposit large logs and other debris on the roadway. It was a good thing that Old Bill was still on hand for an occasional supply trek to civilization. Electricity eventually did reach Punta Gorda, but the power line was unreliable and multiple generators had to be kept on hand. The remoteness of the station made it one of the more costly to maintain, so when improvements in navigation lessened the need for a manned lighthouse in the area, the Coast placed a lighted buoy offshore, removed the Fresnel lens, and boarded up the structures. After having spent more years at Punta Gorda than any keeper, Old Bill was sold to a lady in Ferndale.
When the Coast Guard left in 1951, control of the station passed to the Bureau of Land Management. During the 1960s, a counter culture group took up residence in the dwellings. After chasing them off several times, the Bereau of Land Management decided to burn down all of the wooden structures at the station. All that remains of the station are the concrete lighthouse and oil house, and a few concrete pads where other structures once stood. The lighthouse and oil house were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and shortly thereafter the Honeydew volunteer fire department spent time at the station repairing cracks in the masonry, welding breaks in the lighthouse's staircase and railings, and sandblasting and painting the structures. The station received further attention in 1989 when the California Conservancy Corps restored and painted the structures. Hikers along California’s Lost Coast are a bit surprised to encounter a couple of rustic cabins near Fourmile Creek. Had all of the picturesque structures at Punta Gorda remained standing, one can only imagine what a contrast the craftsman-style buildings would be to what is otherwise very remote and unspoiled territory.
Photo of what remains of the Punta Gorda Lighthouse, the "Alcatraz of Lighthouses," captured along the King Range via Minolta MD Celtic 28mm f/2.8 Lens at Mattole River Beach on the Lost Coast. Humboldt County. Late November 2013.
The Fisherman statue honors those "whom the sea sustained...and those it claimed." Dedicated in 1981, the Commercial Fishermens Wives of Humboldt sponsored this statue via community donations. Photo of The Fisherman statue captured via Minolta MD Celtic 28mm f/2.8 Lens from the Woodley Island Marina on Humboldt's waterfront. City of Eureka. Humboldt County. Late October 2013.
Photo captured via Minolta MD Celtic 28mm f/2.8 Lens from Samoa Beach in the census-designated place of Samoa. Humboldt County. Early November 2013.
A profile of a black and white zebra trots above the reflection of his inner self which is not only more colorful but also clearer.
Photo off the Santa Lucia Mountain Range and a glimpse of the windy dirt-road known as the Old Coast Road, captured from the Old Coast Road in Big Sur. Monterey County. Late March 2013.
Photo captured via Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D AF Nikkor lens near post-mile marker 111.00 on U.S. Highway 101, the Redwood Highway, near Big Lagoon. Humboldt County. Early September 2013.
Photo of McWay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park captured via the HDR method of photography in Big Sur. Monterey County. Big Sur. Late January 2013.
Photo captured from Trinidad State Beach in the city of Trinidad via Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D AF Nikkor lens. Humboldt County. Late October 2013.
Photo captured from along the hiking trail at Trinidad Head in Trinidad. Humboldt County. Early May 2013.
Of Many Minds, a temporary public art exhibition of waterfront sculptures by Michael Alfano was on display from March 2024 through the end of 2025 along the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway in Jersey City, from 10 Exchange Place (near PATH Station) to the Paulus Hook ferry terminal.
Photo captured at the beach on the other side of Freshwater Lagoon, at Redwood Creek Picnic Area, and at the site of OREQ-W - an Ancient Yurok village site. Redwood National and State Parks. Humboldt County. Mid October 2013.
This was a funny photo of my wife and I. Susan actually thought I was taking a photo of her when I talked to her to look back. But I was actually trying to take a self portrait through the mirror hanging on one steel pole from the shops.
haha… sorry honey.
Salut!
Leica M6 Panda, Leitz 5cm Summicron Collapsible. Fujifilm 400H. Scanned with Nikon Coolscan V
Photo looking towards Steamboat Rock captured from Mattole Road on California's Lost Coast. Humboldt County. Late May 2012.
Photo captured via Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D AF Nikkor lens at Clam Beach. Humboldt County. Late September 2013.
As former president Teddy Roosevelt puts it...behold it is the "Eighth Wonder of the World." The water originates from underground springs above and at the falls. Even during the dry summer months and at 129 feet in height, the water provides an almost constant flow rate of 100 million U.S. gallons / day. Photo of Burney Falls captured via Minolta MD Celtic 28mm f/2.8 Lens at McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park. Shasta County. Mid November 2013.
Photo of the Eureka City Waterfront captured via Minolta MD Zoom Rokkor-X 75-200mm f/4.5 lens from the Woodley Island Marina. City of Eureka. Humboldt County. Late November 2013.
"Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person, a false self. I wind my experiences around myself and cover myself in glory to make myself perceptible...as if I were an invisible body that could only become visible when something visible covered its surface....But there is no substance under the things with which I am clothed. I am hollow, and my structures of pleasures and ambitions have no foundation. I am my own mistake.....The secret of my identity is hidden in the love and mercy of God."
-Thomas Merton, "Seeds of Contemplation"