Portraits, An Adventure into Time and Face, a gallery (2 images)

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 Ellesworth Funk working fence Bodie Road, 

Mono County, California April 1972

Jerilee, Rick, and I were on our way up a winding dirt road to the iconic ghost town of Bodie when we came upon an early fifties Chevrolet pickup packing a very homemade camper. It was so odd that we pulled over, got out, and went over for a look. In a gully north of the road, we noticed a man dressed completely in leather, wearing a six-gun and a straw cowboy hat. It was kind of a time-warp experience. 

The man climbed up the bank and introduced himself as Ellsworth Funk. We started talking; I think he was pleased to have someone to say anything to, and one of them was a cute girl to boot. 

I asked him why he was armed. He said he was hired by a local rancher to mend fences, and the gun was for rattlesnakes. As he climbed into his camper to get a cup of coffee, I asked where he got his leather outfit. He said he made it himself ‘cause leather wore so well in his line of work. 

When he sat down in the doorway, I asked him if his underwear didn't roll or bunch up because of the felt texture of rough out leather. He thought for a minute and said, "What underwear? It must be . . . 10 yar or so since I had any on.”

I remember thinking as we were leaving, that I'd never met anyone who seemed to live within his name so well.

On The Plains of Idaho, a gallery (2 images)

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"The Thunder Symphony, First Movement" 

Arco Plains, Idaho

 

 

 

 

"The Thunder Symphony, Final Movement"

Arco Plains, Idaho

 

 

Lehua, a volcanic crater in the Pacific Ocean, a gallery (5 images)

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Lehua is about fifteen miles west of the Na Pali coast.

This progression of images is what you would see if you approached the caldera from the north, then turned south around its west shore.

"Within the Lehua Caldera" 

 

The caldera has been worn down on its northwest side until it is now just a half crescent. This image was taken while we were still in the ancient circle of the crater. The panorama is about a 240 degree sweep, so it looks as if you are seeing it as a long island in the distance.

In order to get the sense from the photograph that you were still in the crater, you would have to print it out to its full size of 20 inches by 10 feet and bend it around your field of view.

  "The Crescent end of Lehua"

Here we move west around the northernmost edge of the island.

 "A Crack in the Crescent of Lehua"

This is the crack you see in the first image. You are looking back toward the caldera.

"Lehua, Island of Iterations"

The island is made up from countless layers of ash raining down from many thundering eruptions. Each explosion adds a foot to a yard of new land to the island.

"A Crash Proof Wave"

For those who love the visual elements of pattern and texture, this place is a Nirvana of experience. The wheeling gulls, the way the ocean converses with the Arabesque coves, the lively submarine world below can make this place live in your memory with great peace.

Na Pali, Kauai's Great Feral Coast, a gallery (3 images)

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"Na Pali Epiphany"

Morning along the Na Pali Coast of Kauai is both difficult to capture and magnificent to witness.  You have to push the limits of your equipment to find that minute sweet spot in the exposure that sets your imagination free.

"A Fingerprint of Fire, Fog, and Rain" 

Where the Dramatic Edge of Kauai Washes Inexorably into the Pacific 

 

Both the Big Island's Kohala/Hamakua and Kauai's Na Pali coasts are very remote and spectacular shorelines. Here on the Na Pali, there are tiny valleys that have insects that exist nowhere else in the world. In one of these canyons there is a verdant valley floor only a few acres in size where there are male fruit flies with tiny antlers. And yes, they butt heads on leaves just like larger game animals establish their territory and mating rights. The genetics of life on Earth is far more strange and magnificent than most of us know.

"Na Pali Post Meridian"

This same formidable shore greeted those who first saw the far west of Kauai

 

Early Hawaiians found peace and sanctuary along this coast because it was so remote.  Today there are good roads all around the coast of Kauai except the Na Pali coast, so a view like this can only be seen the same way those first humans saw it, from the sea.