I believe back in the 40’s, a small engine for the Pacific Coast Railroad fell off the tracks, and it was deemed too expensive to haul it back up. So when I came with my wife, Rayleen, in the 70’s, it had almost completely deteriorated. It has since been removed.

This is probably the newest in this collection. This picture is only about 25 years old. I just loved the birds against the orange sky. The birds stand out so well. Just for a moment, the sky turned to this beautiful shade of orange.

After Bill and I purchased the Yashica cameras, my friend Dwight, who also photographed our wedding, and I went picture taking. We were young, around 18, it was late, it was L.A., and we had a blast running around taking pictures. We thought we were pros. This one was taken from the overpass of the Santa Ana Freeway.

This is another picture taken with Dwight who had been out several times before honing his skills. He always seemed to focus on light. He had a way with light. His pictures always seemed to pop. Anyway, I like to think I’ve improved and that this was a learning experience.

So going back to that good old Yashica, this is my first attempt at a long exposure. I was 17 and it was 1969. From my bedroom window, you could see the flame from an oil refinery on Carmenita Rd. in Norwalk. I thought, wow, what if I sit my camera outside on a small tripod and hold the shutter down (with a cable) for a couple of hours? I laid down and promptly fell asleep. The next morning, I realized what I did, grabbed my camera, and let the shutter click. This is what I found in my negatives. Pretty wild!

In 1977, Ray and I were living in Long Beach. This was my second attempt at a long exposure, and the first one where I didn’t fall asleep. I actually planned this one out. I more or less calculated the time needed and tried to apply some photographic knowledge. This was my first and only attempt with this shot. I’m happy with it.

When I was young, my friend Mike and I decided it would be cool to race slot cars while they on fire, so with my trusty Yashica I got this picture which for a 17 year old I think is pretty good. A funny thing happened at the end of the race. When we went to blow out the fire, we were laughing so hard we couldn’t get much air out which nearly burnt down my room.

Again that great Yashica camera. This is a posed picture. I was down at Signal Beach. I had brought my camera but realized that I couldn’t just leave it out on the sand. I’d have to lock it up in the car, so after taking a few pictures of friends surfing, I placed my surfboard against my car. I loved that car eventually and sold it for more than I paid for it. The board went to my future brother-in-law.

I’d love to tell you all the amazing things I did to get this picture, but I can’t. Now you might think, OK almost 50 years later he forgot. Truth is I didn’t forget. I remember when the pictures came back from processing. I thought, wow, wonder what happened? Now that’s the truth.

A problem with Yosemite is everyone has done it. I loved the original of this picture, but in truth, so many people had done this same picture. I’ve taken same picture many times, so I kept it around and thought nothing would ever come of it. As the digital age approached, I began to realize that old pictures can be made new again, so I pulled this one out of the file and tried different applications and eventually used a watercolor app. I don’t remember the name, but Photoshop does it as well now. Now I can enjoy this picture without thinking of all the other ones I’ve already seen.