Creekwalker: Documenting the Central Valley region remains an important aspect of your work as a
photographer. You refer to yourself as "a reluctant recorder" of the past and present. What are some of the
issues that most concern you about the Valley?
The Valley, and California in general is under tremendous pressure from population. Though we still have vast
expanses; regulation, pollution and lack of resources (water) are limiting what can be accomplished. The
infrastructure of the state, are being squeezed by a commercialization transforming the Valley’s way of life.
Though we can’t turn back the clock, nor should we, we need a thoughtful, considerate framework of the past
to proceed into the future. As a documentary photographer I have a healthy respect for history. Too many of
the new residents of this region have none and therefore could be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
The most glaring of these issues is water.
I can remember having to carry water in large buckets from the deeper well of the neighbors’ house when our
well ran dry during drought years. Today, there is no consideration for the important of California’s “liquid
gold”. People in the past have died over the right to this water. Dreams have been dashed and lives ruined
because people did not consider the consequences of what happens when nature turns off the faucet.
Today I’m a “reluctant recorder” because I have this historical perspective and I want a certain level of the
agricultural and historical uniqueness of this region to survive. I know it will change, and I embrace that, but at
the same time we cannot ignore or pretend the past did not happen.
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