point reyes national seashore #one

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"This isolated swath of land of rolling hills and grasses, wild coastal beaches and headlands, hidden estuaries and forested uplands, hammered so often by howling  winds and fog that chills to the bone,  lies dotted with farms and pasturelands inhabited by those that have learned  to resist in fierce combat  the powerful forces  of nature, is a land so beautiful that one feels  torn from everyday life and transported  blissfully back to a time long past. It thrills me to be able to stand upon the winding , undulating,  Sir Francis Drake road, breathing in the fresh ocean air howling its song through the grasses and fence posts, while I cast my gaze across the lonely landscape. I search for a bit here, a bit there  to capture with my little Leica, some feeling of what I see.  A fence post, a muddy pasture, a piece of the place that rivets the impressions and transient beauty into a fine photograph..Some of these bits and peices can be found in the 3 Point Reyes Seashore Collections that follow."  Kirk Phaling

This collection of photographs of Pt Reyes National Seashore in Tomales Bay California began with a single photograph...While still  living in San Francisco attending art school in 1967 I made a short trip to the area. Of course there was no digital photography then, only film. From that  trip I got one photograph that intrigued me . A moody landscape made on 35mm film that had a grainy feeling and one in which the horizon faded softly  into the distant fog...That photograph  stayed in my mind for some 47 years

Still photographing 47 years later I decided to draw upon that photograph to see what I could do,,,,Even though I had been using Leica M9's , I chose to buy an M2 , and some film to try and replicate the feelings my 1967 photograph had evoked...So off I went with 8 rolls of film and my Leica for  a 3 day limited trip...When I arrived in Point Reyes the skies were cloudy with sun breaking through, gale force winds up to 50 mph, and off and on rain . Perfect !!  I had restricted my lens to one 35,  the idea being to just concentrate on feeling and compositions...Limited means concentrates the mind, and my focus was maintained  throughout the 3 days...I never had to change exposure  The light  remained cooperative, light  photographers dream about.  The goal was to document the place  photographing what was there, not what wanted I to be there..Pt Reyes is often photographed as a romantic place, but I found Pt Reyes almost hostile, unforgiving to humans due to the fierce coastal forces that defined it..I had no desire  to do the Grand Landscape but rather a reportage, to see what the camera saw , my eye finding the compositions, but letting the subject, no matter how simple, become significant..What will make a photograph ? Well anything here I reasoned. ..To enhance my minimalist, reportage approach,  I chose to have the film developed at a local photography store on a commercial machine,  scanned, and then printed on an automatic printing machine.  Of the 320 photographs developed, over 100 I felt could stand alone,  forming  a little book of my Point Reyes National Seashore.!! 

In 2014  during a visit to that same photograph store, Kebble and Shuchat, Palo Alto, CA. I ran into the photographer and the US West Coast LEICA  Manager  Thomas Brichta , who was also running the  newly formed Leica Akademie, USA, Div of Leica Camera Inc of Germany. ..We had gotten to know each other as Leica photographers , a special community of photographers.  Keeble and Schuchat had one of the largest Leica collections in the world which I often visited.  Tom being the Leica rep there, our paths often crossed.  For those interested Sean Cranor of Camera West eventually purchased the owners entire  colllection. 

I showed Tom  my little Point Reyes  book which apparently impressed him...A few months later Tom and I began collaborating on producing 4 day workshops for the Leica Akademia, a new venture for Leica....We went on to direct and produce around 20 4 day workshops for Leica over the  the next 5 years, photographing with other Leica photographers throughout some of the American West's  most beautiful National and State Parks...it was a great time and adventure working and teaching photography to people from around the world.  Tom  teaches  with a  light- hearted approach and humorous outlook on life, while adding  to  his photography archives.  You can see Tom's work at <tombrichta.com>.. Check out his website ! Although Tom is still in the SF Bay Area,  the world is his back yard. 

Around  2020  when Covid hit the US ..Leica  began locking down, preferring  on line  workshops. I avoided that experience preferring to teach on location, so I dissolved the partnership and started my own company,  American West Workshops, producing some 10 workshops in the following few years . Never deterred,  thumbing  our noses at the covid hysteria. many fine photographers joined me in the field to learn and photograph.   Covid was not going to stop us ..We were photographers - we had to be out there photographing no matter what. And that's just what we did, in the big  outdoors , in the great light of day...!!!

All photographs on this page are produced from film...