An American 4th Of July Pool Party

Despite the crowds, I had a wonderful time in Yosemite.  It is such a beautiful park and I would recommend a visit at least once in your lifetime.  As with almost every visitor in the area, I took a lot of pictures and I will share them with you soon.  As much as I love looking at pretty pictures, I am enjoying photographing people these days.  I look forward to profiling more women in my "Women's Work" project, but for now I decided to head up to Chico to visit some friends.

I love Chico.  I lived in this town for six years before I decided to head back to Southern California, where I live when I'm not traveling.  Chico has a slower way of life and things are a bit more simple in this community, which is nice.  I stayed with my good friend and old college room mate while she held her annual 4th of July party complete with massive amounts of kids in her pool and a jumpie to play in.

I didn't make in the pool, but I stood around and took pictures of all of the kids playing in it.  My method of taking these pictures was what I would like to call the "snap and turn."  With about twenty five people in the pool at one time, there was water everywhere.  I would have to take a quick picture and turn around so the water wouldn't splash all over the camera.  I was successful most of the time but you never knew if someone was getting ready to do a cannonball.

Once the kids were out of the jumpie, my friend, Heide and I took a turn and jumped around.  That was the best part of the day.  I was cracking up the entire time as Heide was falling over and hurting herself and then getting back up to do it all over again.  I had my camera phone and took pics of us as we jumped and then us on floor as we fell down.

As the sun set, it was time for fireworks.  The group watched some from the street then it was time to light the mixed bag of "who knows what it will do" explosives.  Now, that's the exciting part.  Lighting a fuse and seeing what will happen next.  I was cracking up as kids ran up to pick up the fireworks after it went off forgetting that they will be smoking hot.  Not once, but several times.  Ahhh, to be young again.

Thank you Heide for hosting Max and I at your house for a few days!  For more photographs of the pool party, click HERE.

The Women Park Rangers Of Yosemite

After Max and I left Big Bear, we head up to Yosemite.  After a long day of driving, we arrived around four in the afternoon.  Lucky for us, a campsite just opened up that day so there were spots available.  We decided to stay a few nights.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, a goal of mine is to meet woman across the United States in different professions and introduce them to you.  Ultimately, I look forward to the opportunity to put them together in a book. I was lucky enough to meet five park rangers and do a photoshoot with them.  I also spent some time interviewing the more seasoned veteran of the group, Michele.

I checked in to camp and told them about my project.  I was thrilled to hear that all of them were on board with it and agreed to be photographed.  That night I set up camp and Max and I decided to relax after a long day of driving.  The next morning, we woke up and took some pictures of the ladies on duty.

Throughout the day, people were checking in to camp and I considered myself lucky that I got there in time before the entire site filled up.  Shortly after I arrived, the vacancy turned into "full."  There is something about a National Park that we all love.  In fact, I thought about how great it would be to be a park ranger when I was considering job options while I was in college. Things went in a slightly different direction.

These women are living the dream and each day they get to call a National Park their office.  Don't get me wrong, this is not an easy job.  They still have to deal with unhappy campers with a smile.  I witnessed it myself as car after car pulled up hoping for a spot.

I wasn't the only one who thought the park would be a great place to go right before a holiday weekend. More on touring the sites in the next blog.

A big thank you to all of these wonderful rangers that took the time to help me with my project.

Day One: Twentynine Palms and Big Bear Lake

We have started the journey!

It seems that this time around, I am not as planned as years past. I had no idea where I was going to head until the day before I left.  I like it that way.  I plan to continue to travel that way for months. You never know who you will meet, what they might say, what you may find, or how you may feel on any given day.

Last Saturday as I was packing to head out, I received a copy of Photographer’s Forum in the mail.  I am not a subscriber so I don’t know how I received it, but alas...there it was.  Since I didn’t have any plans that night it was a welcome surprise.  I decided to relax with Max and flip through the pages.

As I was browsing through the magazine, I stumbled upon the work by Candacy Taylor (also featured on the cover).  I was instantly drawn to the photographs and as soon as I read her story about the book she created, I was hooked.  For the past seven years she interviewed fifty-nine diner waitresses in fourty-three cities.  Not just any diner, or any woman for that matter, but a combination of factors that achieved her criteria.  After all of the miles and interviews, her book, “Counter Culture” was born.

I instantly connected to her work.  The fact is, I am finally starting a project that I have thought about for a long time.  My goal on this trip is to meet, photograph and interview women about what they do for a living.  From truck drivers, coal miners, tattoo artists, National Park Rangers, firefighters, artists, construction workers and everything in between.  Her book was right up my alley.

That night, I wrote her an email to introduce myself and told her a little about what I wanted to accomplish on this trip. Needless to say, she wrote back and my initial Northern route turned to East.  On my first day out, we met at her home in Twentynine palms.  It was over one hundred degrees so she agreed to meet at the house so Max could take a break from the weather as well.  

We chatted on and on about various subjects and just like that, three hours went by.  Max and I said our good bye’s and headed out to find a camping spot.  My initial plan was to stay in Joshua Tree but the temperature was too hot for Max, so with a tip from Candacy, we headed to Big Bear Lake.

As we approached the town, we had a much needed break in the weather.  I looked up a few campsites and found one at the base of the ski lift, called pine knot campground.  We set up camp, took a walk around the area and called it a night.  It was a very exciting first day for us.  

Who knows what will happen next?  It’s fun to say yes and even better when you meet someone that does the same. Thank you Candacy.


p.s.  If you know of any women in an "odd job" that you think should be profiled, please email me at alisontravels@gmail.com