1|BIG SUR
Big Sur California is located south of Monterey. It is known for its dramatic, undeveloped coastline. I went there by myself one weekend and took this picture as soon as I arrived.
2|A Coruña, Galicia, Spain
The crystal galleries of A Coruña.
3|Crested Butte, Colorado
This was to be the last time I would see snow for about four years.
4|San Miguel, Spain
They call this beach the Beach of the Cathedrals. During low tide, you can walk further out and see that there are a series of arches that extend all the way down the beach.
5|Santa Barbara County, California
There is a secret road called Gibraltor that is hidden away in Santa Barbara. If you wind around on Gibraltor enough, you come to another secret road called Camino Cielo or Sky Road. This is the road that drives all along the moutain ridge behind Santa Barbara. If you follow it long enough it takes you to a very secluded hot spring.
6|Lafitte Swamp, Louisiana
Lafiite Swamp is just outside of New Orleans. It is named after a famous New Orleans Pirate, Jean Lafitte. The legend is that Lafitte was one of few people that knew how to navigate the swamp. When he would need to hide out, he would go to this swamp.
7|Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
Santiago de Compostela is home to the University of Santiago de Compostela. It is a small but dense city located in Spain's far northwest region of Galicia. Galicia is not the typical Spain of post cards. There is no bullfighting or flamenco guitar. Instead there are hearty fishermen, bagpipe music, and tails of Galicia's ancestoral Celts. That's right Celts. The region is different from most of Spain and boasts of its Celtic heritage. Interestingly enough, the region recieves about as much rain as Ireland and appears very similar.
8|Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
The hike of the city's overlooking mountain, Monte Pedroso, provides and excellent vista of the cathedral and the old part of the city. The name Santiago de Compostela means Saint James in the Field of Stars. The legend is that Galicia was the last place for the Apostle to evangelize. During his stay he was assasinated by a Celtic queen and his body ultimately came to rest in the area that is now Santiago. His tomb, though was lost in Galicia's dense forest and was undiscovred for hundreds of years. It is said that the hermit Pelayo discovred the tomb after being drawn there by lights in a field. Upon it discovery an alter was built which soon became a church which then became the towering Cathedral that it is today. It is visited everyday by faithful Catholic pilgrims who make the trip on foot from as far as France. It is one of three Holy cities, next to Rome and Jerusalem.
9|Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
The architecture of many buildings in the old zone of the city is just that, old. Many buildings date back to the 11th Century. My first apartment in Santiago was from the 1300's. You had to enter the apartment through a grocery store on the first floor which I had a key to. It was so difficult at night, if I came home hungry, not to take a block of cheese and just leave a note. I was proud that I never did.
10|Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
This is a very interesting staircase in the Museum of the Galician People. The staircase actually leads to several different buildings and has no columns of posts. The museum also shows the history of the Galician people with costume, models of ancient dwellings, and photographs of famous Galicians.
11|A Coruña, Spain
A Coruña is a delight. It is the capitol of the Galician provence. This is an area that harvests mussels from the sea. On this day, my good friend Rut's parents took me to a nearby restaraunt to chow down on mussels cooked in at least five different ways.
12|Lafitte Swamp, Louisiana
Did you think gators we extinct? Did you think that they were endangred? Think again, they are everywhere in southern Louisiana. Just because you cannot see them does not meet they are not there either. Take a trip out into the swamp with some grilled chicken or some marshmallows. Go ahead, throw a piece in a see what pops up and how fast.
13|Lafitte Swamp, Louisiana
This particular baby aligator is named Nemo.
14|New Orleans, Louisiana
The French Quarter of New Orleans, was relatively unscathed by Hurricane Katrina. The area was settled because it is higher ground than the rest of the area. I cannot get over the fact that to this day, when I talk to people about New Orleans, half of them still believe it to be underwater. The flood is over people! Came back and party with us!
15|Ventura, California
The Surf Liquour store is a great example of the kitchy Surf Culture of Southern California. I'm not sure, but I seem to remember seeing Surf Laundry.
16|Faria Beach, California
Faria is located in between Carpinteria and Ventura on the Pacific Coast Highway. The little Island seen in the photograph is commonly referred to as Oil Island. Albeit industrial, the little island is somewhat picturesque. Faria is a great place to surf.
17|Carpinteria, California
I lived in the small beach town of Carpinteria for about two years. The town is smack dab in the middle of Santa Barabara and Ventura. It is a famous destination for R.V. campers and weekenders from L.A. In this photograph I used a proprietory and secret photo processing method I call Stevefilm. The method seeks to emulate the apearance of an old, poorly developed film. I have tried to make it look like some one who went on vacation with nothing more than tungsten film. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised.
18|California Poppy Preserve
When I stumbled onto this place for the first time, I was in my Jeep Wrangler and thought that I had died and gone to heaven. It is located on the remote 138 desert highway. The place is a hilly playground with dirt paths covering the hills.
19|Carpinteria, California
One neat thing about living in a tourist town is that sometimes the tourists build giant Mayan sand pyramids.
20|Honolulu, Hawaii
My good buddy Jason Scarborough lived on the 11th floor of a Honolulu highrise. I was lucky enough to stay there several times and was able to get this photo of Honolulu with Diamond Head Volcano in the background.
21|Amuidal, Galicia, Spain
My good friend and superb mountain-man Fernando Anton Anton grew up in this tiny village in the mountains of Galicia. I visited the village for Christams in 2005. My reception was incredible. We sat in Fernando's bodega nightly and ate ham, cheese, drank homemade wine and liquour, and kept warm by the fire. The life in the town is still very simple. People grow much of their own food and raise their own pigs and chickens. I really got used to the rich lifestyle and did not want to leave.
22|Amuidal, Galicia, Spain
Shepherd houses dot the fog covered mountainside of Amuidal. There is something extremely msytic about the area. I often felt that I knew nothing about Ipods, cell phones, televisions, and the rest of civilization when I was there.
23|Monoa Valley, Hawaii
Monoa Valley is the greenest place I have ever seen in my life. It is pure rainforest.
24|Monoa Valley, Hawaii
I had rented a moped to ride around on while visiting Honolulu. I was also wearing sandals everywhere at that time. I made the mistake of undertaking a 2 mile rainforest hike in those sandals and they broke halfway up to the waterfall. I had to make the rest of the hike barefoot. I can now say that I have hiked through the jungle barefoot.
25|A Coruña, Spain
This is the Tower Of Herculese. It dates backt to Roman times and was said to have been built by Herculese himself. Galcia was what the Romans considred the end of the earth and thus named the region "Finnis Terra".
26|Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Since the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995, Oklahoma has seen an Urban Renaissance. A city bond project called MAPS was aprooved several times and financed the building of Arenas, Hotels, and a canal through an old part of town called Bricktown. Bricktown was once nothing more than a bunch of warehouses but today is home to numerous restaraunts and nightclubs.
27|Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
This is the Oklahoma I will always remember and cherrish from my childhood. As the song goes "The waving wheat, can sure smell sweet, when the wind comes right behind the rain". I wanted to capture that and I think I did in this field near where I grew up.
28|Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
The hay fields near my house, just as I remember them. Oklahoma City lays right on the border of several things. It is the end of the great American desert. It is also the beginning of dense forest called the "Cross Timbers". The American writer Washington Irving (Sleepy Hollow) traveled extensively in the area in 1835 when he wrote his book "A Tour of the Prairies".
29|Arcadia, Oklahoma
Arcadia is located just outside of Oklahoma City on Route 66. It is a stopping point for tourists on the famous route.
30|San Luisi Obispo, California
I came across these stacked barrels just outside of SLO on the way home from Big Sur.
31|Big Sur, California
The Bixby Bridge was on the cover of the Atlas that got me to Big Sur.
32|Morro Bay, California
Morro Bay is a very sleepy little seaside town on the historice Pacific Coast Highway. The massive 101 Freeway does not pass through this part of the coast and has left the little beachtowns pleasantly undeveloped. I can only imagine that this town must have been what much of California was like before it became so overpopulated.
33|Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
This is a road that the leads into the Plaza Obradoiro where the Cathedral of Santiago is located. Each year, thousands of pilgrims journey to Santiago on this road lead by golden arrows that point the way.
34|San Miguel, Galicia, Spain
This is the house of my friend Rut Rey.
35|Lafitte Swamp, Louisiana
The swamp is a beautiful place full of life and culture. In the summer time there is nothing funner than going out on the swamp with a cooler of beer, and a boat full of friends and fishing polls.
36|Lafitte Swamp, Louisiana
Cypress trees are crucial to keeping the wetlands alive. The largest cypress trees were cut down hundreds of years ago for lumber. Today, the trees are threatened by companies who cut them down to make mulch for landscaping purposes. Please do not buy cypress mulch.
37|Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is truly the American Riviera. The beautiful city is tucked between the Pacific Ocean and the high mountains. Neighborhoods are situated on rolling hills. 20 miles from the coast on a clear day you can see the Channel Islands
38|Carpinteria, California
I came across this old tree on the bluffs of Carpinteria on a cold October day.
39|Glacier National Park, Montana
The light on these trees is what intrigued me. I spent some time in Montana years ago with a friend who stabbed me in the heart, took all my money, and left me for dead. You know who you are.
40|Mojave Desert, California
Joshua Trees decorate the desolate Mojave desert.
41|Montecito, California
Montecito is a city outside of Santa Barbara. It is home to a very wealthy population. This is the inside of the Iglesia de Carmel.
42|Montecito, California
This classic Spanish architecture lights glows when the sun shines on it.
43|Santa Barbara, California
The clock tower of the Santa Barbara Courthouse.
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