Landscape artists who focus on parks and/or park facilities?

[PeterDolan]

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about starting a project documenting / looking at the state parks in the San Francisco Bay Area, particularly focusing on the park facilities, trailheads, trails, and viewpoints, and the ways in which these facilities both enable the people in the area to access nature, but also circumscribe and pre-define their experience of nature.

Does anybody know of any other photographers who have done work like this? I'd like to see anything like this that I can use as inspiration / jumping off points. I'd welcome references to books on the topic as well, really anything in the general area that can help me develop a less-sophomoric perspective :)

Thanks in advance!
Peter

[tgtaylor]

The Bay Area Hiker has been doing that for years now: https://bahiker.com/. Although its been a while, I've been on several of their hikes over the years and routinely consult their trip reports which are documented with photos.

Thomas

[Vaughn]

For the lighter side and sometimes a little deeper than it looks, look at Ted Orland's Yosemite images.

Edited to add: The parks, trails and facilities (including a native animal zoo and a Japanese garden) of the Hayward Area Recreation District might be of interest to you.

And for a different view of playgrounds, the night images of Michael Kenna might give you some ideas to expand on.

[Graham Patterson]

Are you planning on including the East Bay Regional Parks as well? They probably outnumber the State localities within 10 miles of the Bay 8-)

The biggest constraint is moving people to and from these places, and that dictates the ingress/egress points.

[dkonigs]

I'm definitely eager to see what comes of this project. I've been trying to visit many bay area parks myself lately (weather and schedule permitting), simply as a way of finding opportunities to get practice (both hiking uphill trails and shooting LF). Far too many of the trails seem to blend together after a while, and I often struggle to find interesting compositions, so inspiration is always good.

Of course I'd also love to come up with a way of capturing the high-tech side of Silicon Valley photographically, but large office buildings and notable company signage doesn't seem terribly interesting after a while.

[Drew Wiley]

There are probably over a hundred parks in the Bay Area, more than any other urban area on earth. A number of photographers have specialized in this, including a few of we large format types. We have significant National Park opportunities like Pt Reyes Natl Seashore and Golden Gate Natl Rec Area, a number of State Parks, and a significant number of Regional Parks, some of which are fairly large or otherwise interconnected by hundreds of miles of trails. There are also some interesting city Parks. The opportunities are almost endless. But you need to sort out the options by the kind of subject matter you are seeking, the time of year (it will be hot inland in summer, but cool on the coast), and where you plan to stay (traffic in and out of SF and other large cities can be hell if you don't time it right). But most of the non-urban parks are uncrowded, with the exception of Muir Woods, which is nuts. Will you have a car? I don't know what you expect to see in Silicon Valley. There's a Tech Museum in San Jose; but otherwise, just a bunch of big modern buildings not open to the general public. You'd have better luck as an industrial spy; but large format cameras aren't very convenient for that species of crime!

[Graham Patterson]

Of course none of the parks in the area are anything like natural. The whole landscape has been modified over the years, and the spaces we have abut residential space, farm land, or watershed. 250 years of imported eucalyptus trees near the coast (Pt. Pinole Regional Park); landfill around the Bay; mining residuals (Black Diamond Mines Regional Park is a classic case). Even the routing of visitors to Muir Woods or the arrested decay of China Camp are as much museums as open spaces.

As a one-time geologist the human interaction with landscape has always fascinated me.

[PeterDolan]

The Bay Area Hiker has been doing that for years now: https://bahiker.com/. Although its been a while, I've been on several of their hikes over the years and routinely consult their trip reports which are documented with photos.

Thomas

Thanks for the reference! Both useful for planning my hikes, and for planning my photos.

[PeterDolan]

I'm definitely eager to see what comes of this project. I've been trying to visit many bay area parks myself lately (weather and schedule permitting), simply as a way of finding opportunities to get practice (both hiking uphill trails and shooting LF). Far too many of the trails seem to blend together after a while, and I often struggle to find interesting compositions, so inspiration is always good.

Of course I'd also love to come up with a way of capturing the high-tech side of Silicon Valley photographically, but large office buildings and notable company signage doesn't seem terribly interesting after a while.

I'll definitely post the photos, thanks for your interest!

Photographing Silicon Valley is challenging, for sure. One thing that's slightly interesting are the warning signs on the superfund sites, which start to hint at the area's history and context.

[PeterDolan]

Are you planning on including the East Bay Regional Parks as well? They probably outnumber the State localities within 10 miles of the Bay 8-)

The biggest constraint is moving people to and from these places, and that dictates the ingress/egress points.

I'm not currently planning to do any of the regional parks, only because of time restrictons. There are already almost 10 state parks on my list in the area, and adding regional parks would expand that too far. Maybe a follow-up project will cover a small region's regional parks.

[PeterDolan]

For the lighter side and sometimes a little deeper than it looks, look at Ted Orland's Yosemite images.

Edited to add: The parks, trails and facilities (including a native animal zoo and a Japanese garden) of the Hayward Area Recreation District might be of interest to you.

And for a different view of playgrounds, the night images of Michael Kenna might give you some ideas to expand on.

Thanks! Maybe I'll see if I can meet up with Ted Orland for coffee and get his thoughts. I didn't realize he lives in Santa Cruz. And thanks also for the reference to Michael Kenna, very interesting.

[Willie]

Might check to see if you with your tripod mounted Large Format gear will trigger "you're a professional doing this for money" in some of the parks. Only takes one Park Service worker at the wrong place to get you tossed out. Too many look at a tripod mounted view camera as "it is pro gear" even when you are a hobbyist - while ignoring the guy with a $40,000+ digital outfit doing full time commercial and stock work in the parks.

Check ahead and maybe a letter from administration or management will prevent misunderstandings.

[Drew Wiley]

Nobody is going to bother you on ANY of these various Park lands for using a view camera, Willie. I have gotten approached by Rangers asking me how to set up their own darkroom or sharing personal memories of large format work. But I only do this kind of thing every single week, so what the heck would I know? Bringing in a film crew with props and actors is a different story, and does require a permit.

[Vaughn]

The only time I have been approached by a park ranger was at a CA State Park. I did not mean to confuse the poor fellow, but he did not know how to deal with someone who claimed to be an artist. If I remember right (15 to 20 years ago), he asked me why I was photographing or something like that. I did not click on the idea that he might be asking because of permit possibilities. Most rangers are updated now.

But even AA got a ticket at Pt Lobos for setting up his camera off the trail.

[Drew Wiley]

All the NP websites are updated with the clarification of exempt private photography (even if it involves income) versus commercial activities basically disruptive needing scheduling and safety monitoring. What we do have here are routine daily helicopter flyovers of the Regional Parks checking for parking lot break-ins, trees downed on trails, fire hazards, and alas, the possibility of serious Cartel grow operations taking root way back in the brush somewhere. Besides a pilot there's a spotter up there with a set of gyro-stabilized high magnification binoculars. I can always tell when it's someone new because they see that big Ries tripod strapped to the back of my pack and do a second go-round to make sure it's not a rifle. After awhile they routinely ignore me. Hunting is illegal in all these parks, and drones are illegal too; but there have indeed been a couple of wild automatic weapon shootouts with woodsy drug operations over the years. A different helicopter is used by the utility company to check on power lines running through park properties. Therefore the parks tend to be very safe, with the exception of random car break-in in a few places, and lately, several people wandering too close to soft eroding ocean cliffs. Pt Lobos expects people to stay within the trail corridor where it is conspicuously bounded by a cable in order to protect sensitive vegetation like the cypresses. It's a very heavily visited place and this is necessary. But quite a bit of the rocky beach areas and pine forest is open to walking, yet well-defended by poison oak in the latter instance.

[Drew Wiley]

Crime scene in Pt Lobos pine forest. Bambi suspected.

[Drew Wiley]

Sorry, didn't successfully post the accompanying image.

[John Kasaian]

The only run in I had with rangers over a LF camera was at Fort Point in Golden Gate National Park/Scenic Area or whateveryoucallit.
I'd love to shoot there but I've never been back---maybe that funny hat made some ranger's head pointy?
I can tell where I'm not welcome.

[Roger Thoms]

The only run in I had with rangers over a LF camera was at Fort Point in Golden Gate National Park/Scenic Area or whateveryoucallit.
I'd love to shoot there but I've never been back---maybe that funny hat made some ranger's head pointy?
I can tell where I'm not welcome.

John, sorry to here about your bad experience at Fort Point. My experience has been the complete opposite, I have always felt very welcome there. I’d encourage you to give Fort Point another chance.

Roger

[Vaughn]

I have had no issues at Fort Point (8x10 and 11x14, so I am noticable). As long as one is not blocking the movement of others and being obnoxious, it is usually cool.

[Drew Wiley]

John, did you have your Central Valley passport stamped at the top of the Altamont Pass before entering the Bay area? That could explain it. I'm officially protected from harassment here under the Endangered Species Act, because I'm a true hillbilly. Being a Fresno citizen does not qualify for that; you might try changing the address on your i.d. to your Clovis pasture; that should help.