Author: John Frelich
To me an important aspect to photography is the ability to follow through with obtaining your photographic interests. To do so doesn’t necessarily mean getting award winning images. It can fill in certain voids you have for your portfolio and personal interests. In an earlier blog I wrote about the Russian colony north of San Francisco, Fort Ross.
At first I thought it was a story perpetrated by story telling guides. The more I looked into it I found there were mixed signals of its existence and purpose. Finally this summer I went to the last California mission, San Francisco de Solano that is now a California State Park in Sonoma, CA. What I learned in history was the fact that the fort not only existed but also remained active for around 30 years, a Russian colony here in the lower 48 states. That is not covered in any history books East of the Mississippi.
Because of that I now have the basis for what I hope will be an interesting short slideshow for our photo club. While there is not much to be seen from the remaining buildings it stands high in the minds of local Russians. While there, we saw caterers setting up tables because a wedding was going to be held in 2 hours on the grounds. To further set the scene all of the arriving guests spoke in Russian and the Ranger was cleaning a cannon that would be fired in celebration.
The moral is the same for all elements in photography – follow through until you complete your objectives.
John Frelich is a trip leader for Arizona Highways Photo Workshops.