California Trip

C alifornia is a land of contradictions. Nothing could be more different than the wet foggy forests of northern Califor- nia, the alpine summits of the High Sierra with its crystalline air and achingly blue skies or the intense dry heat of Death Valley. Compare these places with the never-ending boulevards of Los Angeles and San Francisco's Castro Street. Who but a pair of artist-hippies would have the adaptability to grok it all? The sum of the geography and people gives an understanding of the whole state of nature and culture that is California. California Trip shows the history of peace and love, the tradition of protest, the freedom of the open road and the highs of California's wilderness - all that is far from shopping malls and corporate cubicles. This an uncensored look at real California, not a tourist whitewash. It is a social critique yet also captures the freewheeling spirit and beauty of California. A thinking person's guide to California, outrageous and insightful, this book feels the pulse of the state. For visitors, it's a trip they want to take; for residents it describes the art of living in their state, finding both thrills and spiritual meaning in its wilderness and people. Take the California Trip-but watch out if you go to some of the stranger destinations in the book-the hippie pot farms or San Quentin's prison yard! By vicariously experiencing California through these stories and pictures, readers will be inspired to experience the incredible highs of California themselves, not in posh hotels but in a car and sleeping bag, hiking and medi- tating in the alpine peaks or shimmering deserts. Color & Light Editions is proud to publish this groundbreaking book by Richard Blair and Kathleen Goodwin. It is a book that will expand the art of the photographic essay.

Richard Blair has been working as a photographer since the late sixties. ôMy mind travels back in time, back to 1967... in California Trip I have taken the idealism of my hippie youth and brought it forward to today. Forty years have gone by, and again the White House is waging an unpopular and disastrous war. Even the atmosphere is changing. How to use words and pictures to change the world? This book is a psychic road map to fun û and a kind of idealism that enables you to see things freshly, and act accordingly.ö When he was park photographer in Yosemite in the early '70s, Blair received an award from the Secretary of the Interior for photographing a rescue on El Capitan. His work has been shown at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the Oakland Museum and the Bolinas Museum while his prints are in the collections of the di Rosa Preserve, the Packard Foundation, the Yale Peabody Museum and numerous private collections. Blair photographs using cameras that range from 35 mm to 8x10 view cameras. As a teenager he got an early art education at Music and Art High School, in New York. He believes strongly in the importance of creativity, camping, and traveling, especially for students.Kathleen Goodwin was born in Durban, South Africa, where she worked as a newspaper journalist. Rejecting apartheid, she moved to San Francisco in 1974. She is the author of Point Reyes Visions and cover stories published in the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine. She is renowned for her ability to put people at ease and learn their important stories.Goodwin had a solo exhibition of her watercolors at the Bolinas Museum in 2006. Her paintings have also been exhibited in the Claudia Chapline Gallery and Toby's Feed Barn in Point Reyes, while her photography has been shown at the Barry Singer Gallery.An avid traveler and hiker, Goodwin is happiest outdoors exploring new environments. She has always been drawn strongly to the beach and loves to boogie-board.