Just a quick post to wish you all a wonderful Christmas!

I am also announcing here that I am going to Paradise, CA next week. If you recall, Paradise is the town virtually wiped out by a wildfire in November. 

I plan on photographing Paradise aerially out of the airport at nearby Chico and also on the ground. Just last week authorities announced a lifting of the ban on public access to the area. That news cinched my trip.

I honestly don't know what I can bring to the conversation but ever since I photographed results of fire damage in Southern

Santa Barbara, CA February 2018

 and Northern

Santa Rosa, CA February 2018

California last winter (2018) I think about the loss of life, loss of possessions, the massive displacement and the complete devastation these fires have caused. Emblematic perhaps of the chaos and disruption we all are experiencing in our country in these times, this is a place where I believe I can make a contribution. There comes a time where you have to trust to instinct and experience. 

This is the plan: to use this blog as a forum for posting pictures and writing about my experience, as close to daily, if I can. I hope that you will come along with me on a trip that has many questions built in: am I able at my age? Can I make pictures that will add or contribute to the significant work already done to bring the wildfire issues to the public? Can my writing suffice? And finally, what can I make in photographs and words that will deepen our understanding of the fires' effect and impact on all of us?

Without painting this with too large a brush, I am a career artist working to bend what skills and perceptions I have to something not so much about me but about a huge tragedy that has happened in our country and surely will occur again. I hope you will lend your support by reading my blog and sharing it with others for I am Going to Paradise.