Originally, I took these images in order to preserve my own treasured memories of the area, which for several decades, was my own personal getaway paradise and wonderland, closed to the rest of the world.

With a long four-mile walk over difficult terrain, and no visible indication of what was out there, the probability of anyone else making their way out there was extremely remote, and this proved to be true in fact, so the entire area of about six square miles was truly mine alone to enjoy and explore. Over my first 22 years out there, I only encountered one other person, an older man, who was as surprised to see me, as I was to see him.

When a local ranger informed me, in 1993, that a road was coming through in the next year or two, I made the decision to embark on an intensely-focused, high quality, multi-year life project, the purpose of which would be to capture the unique beauty of the area using the finest photographic gear available, before the inevitable trampling and trashing of this very fragile area began. I had 20 years of 35mm technical photographic experience behind me at that point, and also about six months worth of large-format experience, so I knew exactly where I was going to go with this effort.

Fortunately, I was living in Los Angeles at the time, and with considerable effort, I was able to quickly assemble an ideal system, taking full advantage of the photographic expertise of the Hollywood professional service community. I am indebted to Samy's Camera, Calumet, and especially A&I and PRS for their invaluable advice, expert services, and generosity during that time of tooling up and evaluation.

Excellent equipment and the many years of survival knowledge earned out there gave me the ability to produce professional results, right from the start.