mitzihomebirth.jpgUpdate as of Saturday, Nov. 10: Mitzi and Chelsea, Home Birth (1977 Berkeley). Kathleen Goodwin from California Trip, has been selected by Black & White Magazine for a gold award in the Photojournalism category of the magazine’s Single Image Contest. Altogether 5493 images were received, and Kathleen said she feels “truly honored to have reached the top of such a tall pyramid.” The issue of Black & White featuring award winners will arrive on newsstands the last week of November.
surf-rocks-mountains-rocky-point.jpg

Surf, Rocks, Mountains, Rocky Point ©Richard Blair

More than 200 people showed up Sunday at the Inverness Park home of photographer Richard Blair and his writer/photographer wife Kathleen Goodwin. The occasion was a party to celebrate the release of their new book California Trip.

100_5756.jpgTo quote from the book’s jacket, “The authors of the best-selling Point Reyes Visions have expanded their horizons to encompass the entirety of California…. Traveling thousands of miles throughout the state, they have captured its spirit with photographs that range from surfers, farmworkers, and movie stars to exquisite pictures of California’s deserts and mountains…. From the hippies and protests of the sixties to California today, the authors were there with camera and a reporter’s notebook, recording vivid details of California’s unique place in the world.”

Sunday’s guests at the Blair-Goodwin home on Inverness Ridge got a taste of that variety. Inside the home was spread a feast of shellfish and prawns, meat and poultry, salads, pasta and pastry. In the garden, guests sampled a table of California wines while on the other side of the house, some guests sat quietly at the edge of a forest and gazed out to sea at the Farallon Islands.

100_5762_1.jpg

Meanwhile in the couple’s studio next to the house, an East Bay band named The RaveUps blasted out stunning renditions of releases by John Lee Hooker, The Animals, and other heavies while one crowd of guests danced up a sweat.

el-capitan-clearing-storm-1971-yosemite-valley.jpg

El Capitan, Clearing storm, 1971 Yosemite Valley ©Richard Blair

Richard, who grew up in New York, was a park photographer at Yosemite in the early 1970s and received an award from the Secretary of the Interior for photographing a rescue on El Capitan.

100_5772_1_1.jpgKathleen, who celebrated her 60th birthday, as well as the book, Sunday, was born in South Africa and was a newspaper writer there. Unhappy with South Africa’s then-policy of racial apartheid, she moved to San Francisco in 1974.

California Trip is now for sale for $49.95 in stores around West Marin, which are listed at pointreyesvisions.com. Information on ordering is also available at that address or by calling 415 663-1615.

Book-signing talk-and-slide shows are scheduled for: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov.14, at The Depot Bookstore and Cafe, 87 Throckmorton Avenue, Mill Valley, (415) 383- 2665; and at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov.29, at Copperfield’s Books, 40 Kentucky St. in Petaluma, (707) 762-0563.

lush-stream-pfeiffer-state-beach.jpg

Lush Stream, Pfeiffer State Beach ©Richard Blair

water-tower-mendocino.jpg
Water Tower, Mendocino ©Richard Blair

abandoned-drive-in-with-plowed-field-central-valley.jpg

Abandoned Drive-In with Plowed Field Central Valley ©Richard Blair