early morning desert selfies, channeling wild west vibes.
hollywood reservoir drawing, 2021
lake hollywood reservoir, also known as simply hollywood reservoir, is located in the hollywood hills in the santa monica mountains.
the reservoir is created by mulholland damn, which was built in 1924 by the los angeles department of water & power. it holds a maximum of 2.5 billion gallons of water, but since 1931 has been kept permanently lowered to a maximum of approximately 1.3 billion gallons. its deepest point is 183 feet.
william mulholland, the dam’s namesake, was an irish american civil engineer & the head of the department of water & power in los angeles. he was the engineer behind several dam projects throughout the state, & he even consulted on nevada’s hoover damn. he was the chief engineer of the los angeles aqueduct, which met with rebellion in owens valley in 1924. there were several attempts to sabotage the aqueduct by local area farmers & ranchers in a period known as the “california water wars”. the rebellion ended, however, with the collapse of the local county bank in 1927.
mulholland was haunted for much of his life by the st. francis dam collapse of 1928. just 12 hours after he & his assistant examined the completed dam it failed, sending 12.4 billion gallons of water in a wall 140 feet high & at speeds of up to 18 miles per hour, rushing into the scattered towns below. the water eventually spilled into the pacific ocean 54 miles from its point of origin. mulholland took full responsibility for the collapse & retired 9 months later. at least 431 people died.
the inquest recommended mulholland not be held criminally liable for the disaster, though in some of his testimony he stated: “whether it is good or bad, don't blame anyone else, you just fasten it on me. if there was an error in human judgment, I was the human, I won't try to fasten it on anyone else.”
mulholland spent the remainder of his life in seclusion, dying in 1935 from a stroke. he is buried in the forest lawn memorial park cemetery in glendale, caifornia.
previously known as el paso city, cow wells, or eugeneville, the now abandoned garlock was a mining support town which came to life when a farmer from tehachapi–eugene garlock–brought an 8 stamp mill into the area in 1894. at its height the town was home to some 300 residents, including the eccentric burro schmidt–an area miner who spent decades digging a tunnel through the el paso mountains.
by 1898 garlock was losing its luster. the development of stamp mills & support towns nearby in barstow & other places made garlock’s offerings obsolete. by the time a stamp mill was opened in randsburg in 1903, garlock was fading fast. its founder died in 1907, leaving behind a ghost town.
william “burro” schmidt was perhaps garlock’s most well known resident. in the early 1900s he decided to tunnel through the el paso mountains with the stated purpose of creating for himself a “shortcut” between local ore mills & his mining claim nearby. schmidt seems to have fudged the details about the reason for his tunnel, however, since it begins at his homestead & spits out on a 4000 foot high ledge a distance away from his claim. the tunnel, just over half a mile long, took schmidt 36 years to dig using only a combination of hand tools & dynamite.
area residents thought schmidt out of his mind, especially after a road was constructed nearby making the need for a tunnel obsolete. he embraced his status as a crazy tunneler & publicly declared that he was obsessed with the dig & had no intention of stopping. privately, it seems his work was actually much more logical: he was following a thick vein of gold & copper through the mountain.
schmidt never mined the ore he found in his tunnel however. he died in 1954, a high desert legend. the town of garlock was made a california historic landmark in 1958. it is now largely private property & is partially fenced. burro schmidt’s tunnel still exists, managed by the bureau of land management & accessible by a poorly maintained dirt road. entering it is not recommended.
journal entries from covid times in los angeles.
fun facts:
red rock canyon state park is one of the darkest skies within a 2 hour drive of los angeles, making it an excellent place for amateur astronomy.
the tall thin spires of rock which rise from the desert badlands are called “hoodoos”.
the center of the park is an alluvial plain, caused by the depositing of sediment over millions of years by rivers flowing through the area from higher elevations.
valleys throughout the area were caused by simultaneous or concurrent uplift (due to fault-line activity) & erosion.
several films have been shot here, including many westerns & blockbusters like jurassic park.
a valentine for us.
14.02.2021
breathing in the ash of 34000 dead
& the soot tastes like selfishness
hot & salt-tinged the way
the scent of death lingers
in the cloudline—
a faint grey smoke.
fires burning through the night
like train engines & still
not enough flame
for each of us—
pleading for warmth
we find instead refrigerator trucks
their jaws agape like flytraps
long steel throats opening—
waiting for prey.
earlier this week I learned that los angeles has temporarily suspended the air quality regulations that restrict the number of cremations that can happen in a day. there are so many dead from covid-19 mortuaries have not been able to keep up. the image of the air around us full of the ash of the dead has haunted me this week, so I wrote a poem about it.
“last night I walked into the hills & kept climbing. came upon a hiking trail between the million dollar houses & wandered through to lake hollywood park. looped around to walk along the reservoir as the sun crept lower & lower. came back to the paved streets & meandered through the narrow roads in the hills until I ended up back at home in the early twilight of a hot winter day.”
holiday self portrait 2020
here’s to an absolutely insane year.
during the stay at home period here in la I’ve gotten more & more interested in slow fashion. the other day I decided to do a mini photoshoot with a couple of pieces from two of my fave brands. slow fashion revolves around ethical production practices & supply lines, with products that are meant to be kept, & worn, & loved for years. growing up in poverty I have a lot to unpack around the scarcity mindset which makes “quality over quantity” difficult for me, but these pieces & the handful of others I’ve added to my closet are helping me start.
tank from arq.
breeches from state the label.
ludlow california is an unincorporated community which dates back to the late 1800s. the town itself was founded in 1882 & named after william ludlow of the southern pacific railroad. after a decline in mining & railway projects the town served as a rest stop on the infamous route 66. when interstate 40 was built in the 1960’s ludlow was largely deserted. departing residents left abandoned buildings dotting the old highway. the town is now home to a gas station, diner, & small motel. as of year 2000 the population was 10.
I stopped in ludlow just as dawn broke on my way to amboy crater, only a handful of miles further on route 66. fascinated by the dawn light on the scattered crumbling buildings, I used it as an opportunity to try out my diffuser filter, & got these dreamy looking shots.
filter is the cinebloom 20% from moment.
amboy crater rises up almost 1000 feet above its surrounding lava field.
amboy crater is a cinder cone volcano located just off route 66 in california’s mojave desert. a cinder cone volcano is the simplest form or volcano, created when lava & particles are shot into the air during an eruption from a single vent. the cooling lava falls back to the earth creating a cone shape around the vent.
the amboy volcano is considered extinct & hasn’t erupted for at least 10,000 years. an easy 4.1 mile out & back hiking trail takes you through the surrounding lava field & into the crater. temperatures get very hot in the summer, above 100 degrees most days. bring extra water, sunscreen, & sun protective clothes.
view into the crater from the volcano’s rim.
my poem-a-month newsletter went out last week. since the beginning of the climate fires here on the west coast I’ve been trying to write a poem about the weird light, the gritty air, & the scent of doom. mostly I’ve failed. I sent my latest attempt out in the newsletter. read it here & subscribe to get a poem & a poetic exercise in your inbox each month.
untitled fire poem
I want to write a poem about the fires
about the ash floating in the air
like the scent of summer jasmine.
the smokers teeth sky pressing low—
so much lower than I remember.
I want to write a poem about the burn
pressed into my eyes the rough sleeps
the feeling of fine sand in my throat.
I want to write it but the flames—
are never quite far enough away.
no filter, shot on iphone. 10 september 2020.
the air is dusty but after a moment you reliase it’s not dust, it’s ash.
another blurred yellow morning. I couldn’t sleep because as the sun comes up the smoke gets worse. my throat catches. I rub my eyes.
no one ever said a transformation would be easy, but I wish it wasn’t quite so hard on those of us not insulated from its worse effects. maybe this is a wake up call & the world will be better afterwards.
maybe it will be much much worse.
everything inverted in my tarot spread this morning. an indicator of confusion. everything turned upside-down & opaque. maybe searching for beauty in the middle of all this is the task at hand.
maybe small, shimmering, moments of beauty is all we have.
there are several “red rock” parks throughout the united states. one of the perhaps lesser known ones is red rock canyon state park in southern california just off state highway 14.
bisected by the road, the park is easy to find & provides gorgeous views from even a passing car window. located at the southern most tip of the sierra nevada mountains where they meet with the el paso range, driving through you can clearly see as the desert topography changes around you.
the distinctive red rocks once served as landmarks for passing mule freight teams in the 1870’s & the park land now protects several significant paleontology sites, as well as the remains of late 19th century mining operations.
I left los angeles at 4 am to catch the sunrise over these picturesque natural scupltures. the dawn light made the desert look like a painting. the only word that comes to mind to describe it is “majestic”. it was absolutely gorgeous.
inside one of the circular erosions.
spent an early morning last week climbing around fossil falls off highway 395 in the california desert. I left los angeles at 4 am to beat the heatwave temperatures, but it was still 90+ degrees when I arrived at around 6:30 in the morning.
fossil falls is a fascinating geological feature that contains neither fossils nor waterfalls! tens of thousands of years ago water runoff from nearby glaciers made its way through the valleys of the high desert. there they met with some obstruction from volcanoes! the running water carved volcanic rock into the spectacular tumble that is now fossil falls. the basalt shapes are almost alien looking & feature perfectly circular erosions called potholes where rushing water drove sediment into the rock via rotating eddies.
you might also recognize fossil falls from a short film I shot there a few years ago, finite.
have been wandering around with the meike 6.5mm f/2.0 fisheye lens & experimenting with its funky possibilities. long ago I had a toy 35mm film fisheye camera & always enjoyed the cool perspective of these ultra wide aesthetic lenses. now that I’ve got my hands on a closeout olympus pen epl8 with a micro four thirds mount I was excited to try out a true fisheye as opposed to the free app I have on my phone.
this is such a fun lens! an absolutely giant frame, with the coolest round image & dark vignetting. so much fun for a neighbourhood stroll & putting a new spin on images. the meike is an inexpensive lens that has a much fancier build quality than I expected. this is a solid little guy, made of metal instead of the typical plastic for this price point. I grabbed it with a bundle of free accessories at adorama. between this gem & the slr magic toy lens my olympus pen is becoming a super fun experimental camera.
