– Carl Bidleman

Our good friend and master of aerial photography, Robert Campbell, has published a new book of stunning photos. When he brought Point Reyes and the San Andreas Fault Zone to the office a few weeks back, M’Gee and I got so absorbed with it that we spent an entire hour “ooohhhing” and aaahhhhing” over the stunning images. You can see many of them in this video conversation with Robert and Doug.

Click to play

– Jim Wirth

“Nice watch!”

“Nice Camera!”

I don’t remember which was said first. The watch was mine – a huge 47mm Panerai PAM217 Luminor Marina Militare. The camera belonged to David Hisanaga – a Mamiya 7-II Medium Format 6×7cm Rangefinder. It was last October, and we both happened to be sitting in Nanette Lepore, a women’s fashion boutique in the Forum Shops at Ceasar’s Palace, Las Vegas, waiting for our wives to try on various outfits, and worrying that we might each need a second mortgage. We had never met before, yet we enjoyed the opportunity for show-and-tell, passing our prized possessions, one to the other, for closer inspection. It turned out David was from Mill Valley, California, which is one exit down the highway from Corte Madera where I live – small world. So we exchanged business cards, and David left financially intact with his wife, who did not find anything she really wanted. I was not so fortunate.

Fast forward to earlier this week. Out of the blue I received an email from David, reintroducing himself, and telling me that our OpenRoad.TV video story about the San Francisco Presidio and George Lucas was getting emailed around his place of work – Industrial Light and Magic. He recognized the OpenRoad.TV name and pulled out his wallet where my business card still sat. Yep – small world.

In his email, David took the liberty of attaching two amazing photos that he had taken in one of my favorite places, the Marin Headlands (see my story and video about Exploring the Headlands of Marin) .

The first photo was taken with a twin lens reflex (TLR) Mamiya C330F. The second was shot with the Mamiya 7II that David had with him in Las Vegas during our chance encounter. David is passionate about cameras like I am about watches, and likes to shoot with the Mamiya medium format film cameras. He also shoots with an Olympus OM10, a Canon EOS630, and a Canon 10D digital SLR. But David’s favorite camera happens to be a very cool 42 year old Rolleiflex 2.8F TLR with a Zeiss Planar lens.

“It’s beautiful and it takes beautiful pictures. Everything’s manual. Manual focus, manual exposure setting, manual film advance. It has a light meter, fortunately, which is a luxury. These are hard to find in good condition with working light meters. One side benefit of this camera that I couldn’t have possibly foreseen was the warmth that it brings out in people. I can’t tell you how many people just stop me to say ‘Cool camera’ or ‘Wow, my father used to have one of those’. Just this weekend while I was in a department store, an older man who was with his wife and grandchildren stopped me and said, “Oh, is that a Rolleiflex? I had one of those when I was in the Navy”. His wife chimed in, “I think you still have that in a closet somewhere, dear.” He asked me all sorts of questions. Like if I had heard of so-and-so who took pictures of the West with a Rollei; can I still find film for it; how much does it cost to process; etc. He then asked me to show his grandson how it worked. I did, and he thanked me profusely afterwards. It was a neat moment.”

You can see more of David’s photography at his Flickr account. And if you see two guys in a coffee shop in Marin County anytime soon, and there is an array of interesting cameras and watches spread out on the table, you can bet it’s David and me enjoying a little more show-and-tell.

Watch our video: Sacramento’s Crown Jewel.

– Carl Bidleman

There’s an empty barber chair in Mendocino, California today.

Foggy Gomes has died.

Foggy (as in “old fogey,” not the low clouds), was Mendocino’s volunteer fire chief for 53 years. When not out saving a village made entirely from wood, Foggy could often be found sitting in his barber chair in front of the old fire house on Lansing Street. It’s a chair that won’t be filled any time soon.

Foggy Gomes was an original American character. I only spent two days in Foggy’s company but I consider myself very fortunate. One of those, “Foggy Gomes Day in Mendocino,” stands as one of my very best days ever as executive producer of Bay Area Backroads. I don’t remember the year now but I remember the day vividly. Backroads producer Dan Herz and his wife, Pam joined me and my wife Karen (and our dogs Cody and Buddy) on a beautiful sunny day in Mendocino. Backroads photographer Jack Uhalde couldn’t make the trip so I grabbed the camera (something of a union violation, sorry Alex) and went back to my television roots. It was heaven for me, literally running all over town capturing a wonderful story that unfolded right before our eyes. Hundreds of people. Dozens of fire trucks. Countless smiles and tears and shouts of joy. I got a close-up look at love.

I only get up to Mendocino once a year but ever since I witnessed that festival of gratitude, visiting Mendocino feels a little like coming home. Like there’s family here. I’ll miss seeing Foggy sitting out front but that empty barber chair will bring good memories.

I can’t write anything today that tells the story better than the video from that day. It’s one of those rare occasions where you can turn off the sound and I think you still understand the story. It was a producer’s (and photographer’s) dream. So I hope you’ll take a moment to watch.

WATCH THE VIDEO: FOGGY GOMES, MENDOCINO’S BELOVED PROTECTOR.

– Carl Bidleman

April 30 is Doug’s birthday. We didn’t see him around the office here in Sausalito today because he’s shooting a new story for his other job, Bay Area Backroads. So we thought it a good idea to post the video of one of Doug’s favorite birthdays that we celebrated a few years back. (We’re not saying how many but the video is in color so it can’t be THAT long ago.) The Backroads crew and Doug’s family surprised him aboard the Otis Spunkmeyer for a fantastic and memorable flight above the Bay Area. Have a look. And happy birthday Doug from M’Gee, Stefan, Jim, Paul, Corey, Karen and me.