Fallbrook Avocado Festival, 2008

Every year in April, Fallbrook throws a big party downtown and 70,000 of our neighbors from here and from nearby towns join in to celebrate the avocado - almost doubling our population for the day. It's a big deal in Fallbrook!

Brooktown

What is Brooktown? It's home! Technically it's slang for Fallbrook - the cool kids in the 1960's came up with it - at least that's the story I was told at first. Then I heard that it first appeared on a high school yearbook in the 1930's. But whenever it originated, it's the insider way to refer to Fallbrook...







The view from Maddox Nursery - rolling hills, groves, oak trees, a few palms, scrub brush, and beautiful homes tucked away in places you never see from the main roads. That's Brooktown!



It's far too easy to drive past Dinwiddie Preserve and never really discover it... But it's worth discovering!





I loved the color of the red blossoms on this tree - they may look small in the images, but they were huge.







In the 1880's olive trees were planted all over Fallbrook, and between 1913-1915 olives were the biggest cash crop in the area. There was even an olive press here, for making olive oil. Remnants of those old groves can be spotted all over town, but the prettiest stand of olive trees is on the corner of Mission and Live Oak Park Road.



And finally some weeds from in front of Elder House.

So that's it for my contribution to the 2008 Fallbrook Sourcebook! Some of these same images are currently appearing on Fallbrook.org and earlier today I discovered that my 2005 cover image for the Sourcebook is appearing on the front page of FindFallbrook.com - some images have a long life, and it was definitely an image that defines what Fallbrook is all about!

Palomares House

Palomares House is one of the oldest homes in town - built in the 1890's. It's currently run by the Fallbrook Land Conservancy, and community events are held in the house and on the grounds - which are beautiful. The teaser images of the tree in bloom I posted a few weeks ago, were made on it's grounds.

The first two images were made on March 31, and the last two on March 20, 2008.

Live Oak Park, Fallbrook

Live Oak Park is Fallbrook to me. It's oak trees, rolling hills, a stream, and bright blue skies and birds flittering and fluttering, and peace and beauty.

These images were shot from March 24-26, 2008 for the Fallbrook Sourcebook. I think only one made the final cut for the magazine, but I love them all!

Los Jilgueros Preserve

Los Jilgueros isn't a park - there's a trail that you can walk, but you must not disturb the wildlife - and the wildlife is abundant! A stream runs through the 46-acre preserve, and there are areas where it spreads out into wetlands, and other areas that are more pond-like. It's a great spot to bird-watch or just walk the mile-and-a-half path and enjoy the scenery.

These images were shot on March 21, 2008, for Fallbrook Sourcebook.

Fallbrook Farmers Market

Every Friday morning, on the corner of Main and Alvarado, in the Village Square, the farmers in town take over! You can get locally grown produce and flowers AND locally grown and packaged products like honey and gourmet kumquat sauces.











In 2005 I shot the Fallbrook Farmers Market for Fallbrook.org, and then on March 21, 2008 I shot it again for Fallbrook Sourcebook. If you want to see my earlier images, go to http://www.fallbrook.org/tourism/farmers-markets.asp

Fallbrook Sourcebook is here!

Last month I spent a week shooting all over town - I shot at Palomares House, Dinwiddie Preserve, the Farmer's Market, Los Jilgueros Preserve, and in all sorts of hidden out of the way places that only long-time Brooktown residents know about. It was great! And now those images are in the 2008 Fallbrook Sourcebook - it's the only glossy magazine dedicated solely to the Fallbrook/Bonsall area - and it comes out once a year - today!

The cover features six of my images - the only one I didn't shoot is the food - the rest are my work. I also shot the cover in 2005 - that year it was one image of an artist painting in a garden - so typical Fallbrook stuff!

I also have quite a few images inside the magazine, and now I can blog some of those images. So more tomorrow!

And finally, here's my ad that appears inside - I'm really happy with the way it turned out!

The Pico Promenade in April

We're in the middle of a heat wave - and I love it! It feels like summer... So I went for a walk along Pico Promenade today, and shot all the flowers in bloom along Fallbrook Stream.



















This last image may be my favorite of the day - it's my favorite fence in front of the old Packing Plant - again!

Downtown Fallbrook

So I took a little walk downtown on Main Street today, and did a little documenting...


Diva's always has the best window displays. Right now they're featuring dresses made out of tissue paper and these really pretty lamps. It's very creative - and their windows always are - and they have a lot of windows! My grandparents used to own shoe stores and my Grandma did beautiful displays - it's definitely an art form.

I love the way the street and the traffic lights are reflected in the window. And you can see through the window, back out to the other side of the street, as well as into the shop. It's just a really interesting shot with lots of levels.


A view of another window, with yet another lamp and more reflections.


For years Fallbrook didn't have a place to buy fabric, but it looks like we do again. These bolts of a plastic-y fabric for outdoor use, were sitting outside, and inside there were people happily shopping.


It's not unusual to see a vintage car like this parked on the street. I think there are more classic cars in the area than anywhere else in California, and the owners like to show them off!


On Main Street some of the buildings are really old, and some are made to look that way, and it's sometimes hard to tell the difference - which is a good thing.


I love this sign! The Mission Theatre runs a dance school across the street, so their students are often seen darting across. In this case, "Dancer Xing" is accurate.


The Mission Theatre was built in 1948, and the inside still has some great original details. They do mostly children's theatre now, but in the past they did adult productions, and before that it was all movies.


As I've mentioned before, the building my studio is in, Elder House, was a school until only recently - and the traffic signs haven't been removed yet.


I love to watch leaves fluttering in the breeze. I shot nearly thirty frames of these leaves as they blew wildly, and considered putting together an animation. Maybe...


And of course there are some pretty little plants along Main Street...


These trees are just now blooming - so pretty!


And my favorite shot of the day! Who knew some leaves and stems could be so yummy?

De Luz Schoolhouse

There's a little one-room schoolhouse in De Luz - the only other existing one-room schoolhouse that I know of in this area, is in Anza, and it's the school my great-grandma attended. She was born in 1904, lived to be 100-years-old, and rode a donkey five miles to get to school. But this post isn't about her, it's about the schoolhouse in De Luz - which is situated in the prettiest oak grove. It's peaceful and quiet, the ground is fertile and rich, and the oak trees are the tallest I've ever seen. It's paradise.


De Luz Elementary was built in 1927 and one teacher taught all eight grades. In 1968 the school was closed, and since then the building has been used as De Luz Ecology Center.


The tiny post office may look like someone's idea of a little joke, but there really are mailboxes in the side of the building.

I've shot in the area many times, but today was different. It was a gray cloudy day, and the light was flat except for a few brief moments when the sun broke through. But flat, subdued light can be be quite beautiful if you have the right subject matter. So this time I didn't shoot the big soaring trees, or try for majestic landscapes - instead I mostly went after the subtle details that usually get lost in stronger light. And I found some wickedly beautiful details...


Leaves on an oak tree.






Have you ever seen grass this pretty?


Where they've cut off a limb, the tree oozes sap.










These sheep are very lucky - they live in paradise, have plenty of room to roam, and look healthy and happy.

I was the only human in the area, so I thought they were all watching me, but shortly after I shot this image I saw some coyote footprints, and it occurred to me that this was the kind of day when wildlife is more active - and it's the exact kind of day I've seen bobcats and mountain lions in the past, and here I was all by myself, with no other humans around, and I was concentrating on blades of grass and leaves? I'm usually smarter than that... So I decided to call it a day, and got back to my car, and then watched as a nice-looking healthy coyote trotted across the street. I am not afraid of one lone coyote, but a mountain lion is a different matter.


And finally I shot this image on the way out to De Luz. I shot the same tree in December on a pretty sunny day, and the difference today, just two months later was striking. Where the hill was brown before, today it was green. Where the sky was bright blue in December, today it was gray. Very, very different day, and very different image - but still a really beautiful and striking tree.


And the freshest little weed...

For more on the De Luz Schoolhouse, go to:
http://www.fallbrook.org/history/de-luz-school.asp

A sign of hope or defiance?

Driving into town on Reche Road you pass some of the worst fire damage - in fact the Valley Oaks Mobile Home Park where over one-hundred homes were lost is visible from the road as you drive by. And there's other damage - the canyon by Wilt Road was particularly hard hit. It's a miracle if you look closely, because you can see where the firefighters held back the flames.

At the intersection of Reche and Wilt something interesting is happening. Someone is placing Christmas decorations on the burned branches. It started with just a couple shiny balls. Then it grew, and now it's starting to spread down the hill. Who knows if it's one person, or an organized group, or just a bunch of individuals inspired by what they see, and contributing in their own way.

It could have been garish. or ugly, or just in bad taste - but somehow it's not. It's beautiful, and it fills me with a combination of hope and defiance every time I drive past. Hope for the future, because the fire did not destroy the truly important things in life - and defiance, because even though the landscape is charred, we're clearly not letting the fire destroy our hope.

It's just a few shiny decorations - but it's very cool! Kudos to whoever is responsible!

Elder House

I'm planning to shoot some images of the exterior of my studio once I get my new signs, but I thought I could at least show Elder House today! You can see the stairs leading up to my front door in the second picture, and the large deck, and the wonderful skylights that flood my main room with soft beautiful light. And in the top picture you can see my little balcony, and the edge of the deck.

Elder House has an interesting history. According to an article that appeared in the Village News in 1998, it was built as the result of a competition between three local men in 1883. They each were to build a house for under $3000, and the one who built the best house would win. One of these three houses, described as a "beautiful, ornate home," was built on Juniper Street, and later moved to West Elder. It didn't win the contest, but it is the only one of the three still standing.

I'm not sure when this photo was taken, but it's a fairly early shot - probably from before the house was moved to Elder Street. The staircase on the side of the building is long gone, and the house has been extended on both sides, at some point during the last 100 years. But the bay window downstairs and the tiny balcony upstairs look almost exactly the same today as they did when the home was new.

There are stories that one of Fallbrook's first newspapers was located here. In the 1980's it was a popular restaurant, then in the early 1990's a construction company was located here, and in the late 1990's it was first Fallbrook Country Day School and then The New School in the early 2000's. And now it's the home of Fallbrook's Village News downstairs- and I'm very lucky to have the upstairs!

If you'd like to read more about The Building Contest in 1883, go to:
http://www.fallbrook.org/history/building-contest.asp

First Christian Church in Fallbrook

Fallbrook has some authentic Victorian architecture - the town was founded in 1885. My studio is in a home constructed about that time and there are other houses around town from the same era. And there are even more buildings with Victorian flourishes that were added later - it was the thing to do in Fallbrook during the 100-year anniversery, in the 1980's!

But the First Christian Church is the real deal. Originally built as a Methodist church, it was constructed in 1887, and is considered Gothic-revival in style.

In 2004 I shot it for Fallbrook.org, and I shot it again yesterday - the bright blue skies and white clouds were the perfect compliment, I felt, to it's pretty little steeple and fish scale siding and restrained use of stained glass. And I suspect I'll shoot it again in the future.

The world could use a few more little white churches with soaring steeples.

For my 2004 Fallbrook.org photos, go here:
http://www.fallbrook.org/about/architecture.asp

The Road to Deluz

I woke up this morning to a friend pounding on my front door. Why? Because it was such a beautiful day and the clouds were so gorgeous she didn't want me to miss any of it.

As she said, "You have to go out and shoot!" She was right!



The awesome sky!



And a cool mud puddle! It's rained the last two days, so a little mud is to be expected.







Awesome, awesome light!





The road to Deluz takes you through some of the prettiest oak groves. When I think of Fallbrook, this is what I picture! And there are other trees as well. It's just the most beautiful road to drive!

Fallbrook Stream and Pico Promenade

My new studio sits on the edge of Fallbrook Stream which runs through town. I always seem to end up near water! Growing up our house in Elevado Heights in Vista was on a stream, and we built forts and would play all day down there. It ran year-round, since our neighbors were so fond of watering their lawns and groves, and that water had to go somewhere. My grandmother still lives on a stream up in Idyllwild. My brother lives on Constant Creek here in Fallbrook. My last two homes were right on streams. It's definitely a recurring theme in my family!

A decade ago the town decided to create a mini park and walking path along the edge of Fallbrook Stream, and the Pico Promenade runs the three blocks from Major Market to my studio on Elder. It's like a secret haven in the middle of town, and most people drive right by without ever walking it - but if you take the time to stop and get out of your car, it's a beautiful spot!



I wrote yesterday about people coming to my blog expecting to find photos of wildlife, and what do you know, today I saw some! This Egret is just a baby. There's a huge Egret that spends time every year near my brother's house, and this one was maybe a third the size of that bird - but he was so incredibly white and just beautiful. And not a bit scared of me. I watched him use one foot to stir up the mud in the stream, and then swoop in with his beak to grab and eat whatever it was he was finding. And he ate a lot of whatever it was - so it must have been good! I was surprised the first time I saw an Egret in Fallbrook - I had no idea they would come so far inland. But I've heard since then that they nest in tall trees and feed in shallow water, so Fallbrook is actually a pretty perfect place for an Egret. I think they're most beautiful in flight, since they're so long and elegant.





The light was really pretty this afternoon - it made everything glow.



This must be a magical puddle! It was glistening and glowing, and it reminded me of a fairy tale...



The old Fruit Packing Plant used to be right on the stream, and this window is part of the new wall surrounding the property. If the entire renovation turns out as pretty as the wall has, the building could be stunningly beautiful.



Bogenvia blooms along the pathway...



This last image expresses how I felt today - bright blue skies, and beautiful colors. Everything is right with the world on a day like today!

Fallbrook Christmas Parade

The night of the Fallbrook Christmas Parade may be my favorite night of the whole holiday season. There's just nothing like a night parade in your hometown! The parade is always huge - I think there's an unspoken rule that every kid in town must march in it, or sit on a float, or at the very least, watch it! There were 120 different entries this year - several bands, lots of floats, horses, and goats, and dogs, and ponies, and even the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales. And not a drop of rain! It rained on and off for most of the 24-hours before the parade, and finally stopped less than 2 hours before the parade started.

The loudest cheers were for the firefighters. It was incredibly moving to stand among my neighbors and clap and cheer for those who saved our town last month. There was a lot of gratitude expressed on Main Street tonight. We were very fortunate - and we know it - and it felt good to express it!

Click here for LOTS more images from the Fallbrook Christmas Parade!

Rain Clouds

Rain! Nearly two inches in less than 24-hours. The grey skies finally broke this afternoon and the sun shone through briefly, and then the rain started again. I'm not complaining! We definitely need it.

I took a walk down by the stream yesterday, during the middle of a downpour and skipped over puddles and watched the stream swirl through town on it's way out to the ocean. Everything smelled wonderful and fresh and new!

Fallbrook Today

I drove past a Persimmon orchard today, and was struck by how beautiful the trees look right now - completely laden with fruit.



My Mom makes the best Persimmon bread, and growing up we always knew at least one friend who had a tree and would have tons of fruit to give away between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But I'd never seen a whole orchard of trees before this week - and it's a beautiful thing to see!



Just a short distance from this beautiful orchard there's massive fire damage. But not everything was scorched. This pale purple flower is actually a weed that grows on the side of the road. When the bloom opens, they remind me of a Georgia O'Keefe painting. But even a bud like this one is beautiful.



On Reche Road there used to be an old restaurant or road house or country store or house - I'm not sure what exactly - if it's been open in the last twenty years, I don't remember it. And the oak trees and vegetation around it were always so thick, all you could see was the old sign - the building was completely hidden. But whatever it was, the fire a month ago claimed it - all that's left is the gate, the foundation, a chimney, and two vehicles in the yard. And you can see it all from the road as you drive by.



The yellow sign reads, "San Diego County Wildfires 2007, Clean-up Program, Hazardous Materials Assessment and Removal COMPLETE." I'm assuming the charred paint cans marked with green paint, were placed here by the pros doing the assessment and removal...



Not everything burned. This newspaper box attached to a mailbox melted.





Once thriving ivy...



Another yellow sign signifying the hazardous material has been removed.



There are a lot of classic and vintage cars in Fallbrook - it's one of the things were famous for - avocados, classic cars, our hometown Christmas Parade, and oak trees! I wonder if this car was a project car, or if it was beautifully restored, or if it was something in between?



I was amazed to see so much plant life still standing, when the homes are completely gone. This plant may be dying, but it is still standing.



Part of a gate...



There were crews everywhere hauling out debris. About a week ago, my Mom spent a whole day digging through the ashes in this same neighborhood, with a relief group trying to find anything the home owners might want. I was really proud of her. It's one thing to give money, but to give eight hours of your time to dig through ashes and debris? That's just really special...

Evolution of the Old Packing Plant

There's an old fruit packing plant in Fallbrook that I've been shooting for years. It was a great big beautiful eyesore. The one area in Fallbrook that could be called truly unattractive, but there was great beauty there too. I was fascinated by it, and shot it often. Some of my favorite shots are below - including a CD cover for a local band.


Shot in 1996 - notice the pool of water.


Taken at twilight in 1996.


CD cover for Ces Jacuzzi, 1998


CD insert for Ces Jacuzzi, 1998


In April of this year I did some night shooting around Fallbrook, and got to the packing house around midnight - the exposure was several seconds.


The property sold recently and the new owner is doing a total renovation. Every time I drive by I get excited by the changes I see. Hopefully soon it will be filled with restaurants and shops - and lots of people! Construction is moving fast at this point, so I went by today to shoot, knowing it might be my last chance to shoot the building in the midst of evolution.



I'll miss my favorite eyesore, but I'm excited to see the change!

After the Fire Photo Essay

The day after we were let back into town I wanted to go out and shoot. I'm not the kind of photographer who gets excited over chasing a fire, or documenting the danger - I'm the first one out of town when it gets dangerous! But I am interested in other parts of the whole experience - and I felt a need to go out and make sense of it, with my camera.

The following series is what I got that day. The best of these images are in this week's edition of the Village News, and one of them was on the front page of the TheVillageNews.com for most of the week after the fire.


Modern fire engines were parked next to the Firehouse Broiler's vintage fire truck, as the restaurant hosted the firemen.


Firemen at the Firehouse Broiler.


The Taylor family lost their home near Live Oak Park, but they called their meal with friends at the Firehouse Broiler a celebration. They were grateful to be alive and healthy and together.


The menu board at the Firehouse Broiler read "Thank you to all the Firefighters and Law Enforcement."


Ron Johnson from Fallbrook Union High School helps to unload the 300 cots provided by the Red Cross, at the evacuation center at the school.


Cleaning up at El Parque Restaurant in Live Oak Park. The owners hope to reopen on Saturday.


The line for Disaster Clean-up Kits and Comfort Kits provided by the Red Cross at the Community Center on Heald.<


The Red Cross provided hot meals to those in need.


A hot meal, water, and desert.




At the Community Center, "Stromsoe Insurance Agency wants to help you begin the recovery process." There were four insurance companies with representatives available to talk to home owners.


Phillis Mischke and Barbara Sacic, who both live in the Valley Oaks Mobile Home Park check to see if their homes are on the list of destroyed homes. Neither one's home was listed, but Barbara's home made another list a few days ago, so she was hoping the fact it wasn't listed now was a good sign.


"House Doctor, Home Repairs at Disaster Prices"


Tom Baba of Fallbrook shows Lance Kramer of Laguna Beach that his home is not on the list of destroyed homes.


Tom Baba is happy to see that there is no red dot marking his property, which means his home in the middle of the burn area is most likely still standing.


"All American Red Cross Disaster Assistance is Free"


Red Cross Volunteers distributing Disaster Clean-up Kits at the Community Center.


The Red Cross handed out bottled water and flavored water to residents at the Community Center.


Red Cross volunteers outside the Fallbrook Union High School evacuation center.


An interesting note... I'd forgotten when I went out to shoot last Friday, that I'd had a similar reaction after the fire in 2004. That time I got to go back in the morning, and so as soon as I'd cleaned out my freezer and refrigerator - the power was out for a week due to the fire - so yuck! But after I'd cleaned up that mess, and unpacked my car, I felt compelled to go out and shoot. The landscape was blackened and there was devastation everywhere. I shot 3 rolls of film and I found beauty in the damage. I created beautiful shots of charred branches and burned fences. I spent a lot of time crying that day, but ultimately it made me feel better to create beauty from the ruins.

So it strikes me as interesting that I felt the same compulsion this time - to go out and shoot right away - but this time I was compelled to make happy, shiny, comforting images, and last time I shot the devastation. I think both approaches are valid, but definitely very very different.

After the Fires...

I used to love the Santa Ana Winds. It wasn't so much that I liked the wind itself, but I loved getting a few days of really hot weather and bright blue skies in the middle of fall. Santa Anas cause the bluest, prettiest skies of the whole year. In Coastal Southern California, the beginning of summer is often overcast, so for me summer starts late, and I love it when summer seems to last well into fall. So yeah, Santas Anas were something to look forward too.

But in recent years when I hear the words Santa Ana my first thought is fire.

In 2004 I was forced out of my home for over a week, and the fire was so hot and furious that 100-year-old oak trees exploded from the intense heat. And the entire landscape was scorched - it looked like a blackened moonscape for miles and miles. And two months later, I moved. Before that I loved living out in the wilderness. I had a mother and baby Mountain Lion climb the tree by my front door. I saw foxes and raccoons. I saw a jack rabbit racing across the open field across the street once - have you ever seen a jack rabbit? It looked like a mini kangaroo! But my love for living in the wilderness changed after the fire. I was extremely lucky - people all around me lost their homes - and my home survived unscathed. But still, my feelings about living on the edge of civilization had changed. It was suddenly scary.

Since then I've lived in the center of Fallbrook, and I've recently moved into the very center of downtown. So I had to be safe now. Right? I mean, if a wildfire got to here, it would have had to have burned through thousands of other homes before it got here - so not likely, right?

But on Sunday night, when the wind started to blow, I was concerned. It's not just about my home and my possessions, it's about my town and all of San Diego county. On the TV news they were reporting fires in other parts of San Diego, including one just east of Escondido. None of the TV stations cover Fallbrook with any regularity - we're just too far north of San Diego for them to know we exist, so I turned to the Internet and news sites and local bulletin boards. And there was activity. Lots of activity.

When there were reports of a fire in Fallbrook, just 2 miles from my home, I started packing my car. I'm a big advocate of having a list of what to pack in a situation like this. When an emergency hits, most people tend to make bad decisions. "Oh, I don't need that photo album, I'll just grab this one." Or "Oh I don't need enough clothes for a week - I'll just grab some sweats." But if you have a list, then you don't have to think or make decisions. You don't have to decide if Grandma's china or your TV or the computer is more important - you'll just follow the list! For me, after I get myself and my cat out, it's about saving my art - which means my negatives and for more recent work, my digital files. Then next most important is getting the things I need to work - meaning cameras and computers. And then next comes the things I'd need to survive a week on vacation. If you can survive a week away from home, then you could survive forever. But if you can't even brush your teeth or get dressed or have a pillow to sleep on, it's hard. It's hard if you're evacuated for a week, or if you lose your home to the fire. Either way, you need to pack for a week. No matter what. Then next for me is sentimental things and the things that I love - my father's baby book, old family photos, my antique sewing chest, and great-grandma's gold thimble. If there's something you can't replace, that you love, and it would fit in your car, put it on your list! Don't rely on your memory at the time - it's tough to think of everything, when you only have a half-hour to pack and get out. And if you still have any room in your car after all that? Go grab your bedding and the rest of your clothes. If your house burns down and you have to go rent a new place to live, you'll be grateful for the bedding, and replacing all your clothes would not be fun. So if you have room in your car, why not?

So I packed that night, and when the word came the next day that we under mandatory evacuation, I was ready to go. My family met here, since I was downtown, and I led a caravan of four cars through Deluz, to get to Temecula. At one point there was a car in front of us, and I could tell he'd never driven the road before - it's a narrow little road through oak groves and there are a lot of sharp turns, so it wasn't hard to figure out he didn't know the road. And where it Y's about nine miles out, I just knew he was going the wrong way, and I wanted to honk, because I knew! But I didn't honk, because it's silly to think I knew where he was going. How could I know? So I didn't honk, I just kept going, and then a mile or so later, my mother started honking, and pulled over convinced that I'd taken a wrong turn, and I explained to her how often I take this road - it's one of my favorites! And yeah, it's a long way, but it's absolutely beautiful and I knew exactly where we were. And while we were pulled over, a car came up behind us and just waited for us. And I wondered why they didn't just pass us - until I realised it was the car that had taken the wrong turn! And he was waiting for us, probably because he figured we could lead him out. And then another car pulled up behind him and didn't pass either. And I realised that people were just trying to get out of town, and they were taking roads they'd never taken before, and they didn't have a clue where they were. It was a sobering thought - among many that day. Once we got to our destination, we heard on the news that the official evacuation route had been through Camp Pendleton, and that it had taken people four hours to get from Fallbrook to Oceanside - a trip that under normal conditions takes 20 minutes. So we seriously lucked out when we chose to go through Deluz. Before we started we tried to stop and get gas, but the line to get into the station was so long we gave up. And later we heard they ran out of gas. Can you imagine? Four hours in traffic to get to Oceanside, and no one could even buy gas. It just really proves to me that it pays to be prepared. I knew there was a chance we'd be evacuated the night before, and I got packed up then, and if I'd needed gas, I would have bought it then. But then again, I've lived though another fire...

We spent the next four days at my Mom's house - she's currently in the process of moving back to Fallbrook, so her house was half-empty, but it was a perfect place to stay while we were evacuated. And the day we got to come back home? Heaven! I've never been so happy to see my home!

And as for my thought that a wildfire would never reach my home in Fallbrook, because I was in the center of town, and it would have to burn through thousands of homes before it would ever get to mine, and that would never happen? Well I was wrong. I never realized how far embers can be blown. On the day I got back I saw a home in the center of town that burned. The garage was gone, and the burned shell of a car was all that remained. The embers flew for miles. I always thought of fire as a thing that surges forward in a line and burns everything in it's path. And that was the case with the fire in 2004. But this fire was very different. I know that the main reason it was different was that Fallbrook was named the priority on the worst night - which meant we got more resources than the other fires around us. And it makes perfect sense when you realise how close the fire was to town, and how many houses were at risk, and how few roads out of town there are. But still with so many fires raging that night, it's amazing that we were named the priority - but it saved our town. If you drive around in the burned areas, you can see where the firemen took a stand and stopped it. Fire doesn't respect lines - it burns where it wants. But the firemen contained it, and diverted it away from structures. It's a beautiful sight to see, when you start to realise why certain spots were spared. It wasn't luck, it was hard work by the firemen.

We lost 200 structures. I say we, but as I sit here in my beautiful comfortable home, I realise that I got lucky once again. And my heart aches for those who lost their homes.

Fallbrook at Night

Sometimes it's more interesting to shoot after the sun goes down. The whole world looks very different at that time of day. The first image was created about an hour after sunset - it was 8PM, but the sky still had some lightness to it, and with a long enough exposure it almost looks like daylight. The wisteria was in bloom, and while it's magnificent in color, somehow I like it even better in B&W at night.



The next one was right at midnight, in downtown Fallbrook. Notice the car lights streaking by, behind the blooming tree. The exposure was only about 15 seconds, but several cars and trucks crossed through the frame during that time.



The final image was shot at the old fruit packing plant, right after midnight. I've shot this building before - most notably for a CD cover for a local band. It's been a charming eyesore for over a decade, but they recently began the big renovation to turn it into a trendy restaurant and office and retail space. If I was planning to stay in Fallbrook I'd be tempted to look into opening a studio there. It's a great location, and the plans indicate it's going to be a fabulous space once it's done!