Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Then and Now Presentation for SCHS


I will be present for a signing/presentation for Then and Now: Sacramento on Tuesday, January 27 at 7:00 PM. The event will be held at the Sacramento Sierra Valley Medical Society Building, 5380 Elvas Ave., Sacramento. This event is being hosted by the Sacramento County Historical Society.

Any good book tells a story, and any good history book needs a thesis. In Then and Now I wanted to show how the city grew over time, and the effects of this growth on buildings, neighborhoods and communities. In addition, I wanted the book to serve as a brief introduction to Sacramento history.

How would you select 80 historic photos from a collection of four million? How would you pick the most historically significant sites from a city of nearly 100 square miles? How would you photograph the site of a historic building where no trace of the original building remained? What is the best way to find out what is happening in a historic photo? How can you explain a photo meaningfully in 80 words or less? How can you recreate an aerial photograph without having to rent a plane?

In order to create Then and Now: Sacramento, questions like these needed answers. At its simplest, the book is a collection of historic photographs compared with what stood on the site in 2008, but it was not my intent to simply present the photos without context. At this month’s presentation, I will discuss methods, share primary and secondary source material, and present some of the history behind Then and Now: Sacramento that wouldn’t fit in the book.

If you purchased any of my books but they aren't signed, I would be happy to sign them; I will also have books available for sale.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Who Fills Your Potholes?

I have been posting a lot at Sacramento Press lately, so I figured I would link from here to the articles I write there. I will still post blog posts here, but Sacramento Press provides an interesting forum and I think they probably get more hits than I do:

http://sacramentopress.com/headline/1942/Who_Fills_Your_Potholes