Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "sequoia"

A Gathering of Spirits Harvest Festival

2010-09-22T09:26:53Z

A Gathering of Spirits Harvest Festival, Honoring Pagan Pride, was held on Saturday and Sunday, September 18 and 19 at the Fair Oaks VFW. This Harvest Celebration had plenty of activities each day. Many vendors were also at hand selling many of their magical wares. Three or more public rituals were held each day and there was also plenty to do for children and adults.

Although the event and parking was free those attending the festival were asked to share in the abundance of the harvest by donating one or more non-perishable food items. These donations were then donated to a local food locker.

Musical entertainment was performed, on Saturday, by Hobby Horse and Drumsum. Dancers from Hot Pots Studio made various appearances on both Saturday and Sunday.

Rituals were held both days and they were hosted by different local groups. A Strega, Asatru and Druid style rituals were held at two designated areas behind the VFW hall.

The Hot Pots Studio Dancers were one of the favorite acts. A great musical selection was chosen to showcase their dancing skills. The belly dance performance was very entertaining and at the end they solicited audience participants. Those audience members that joined the dancers had a good time moving to the music.

Another favorite was Obsidian Butterfly performing a series of fire dances. As always, they mesmerized the audience. Their spectacular dance routines were alluring and very enjoyable. After their dances they invited anyone from the audience to, in a safe manner, try their hand at seeing what it felt like to touch the fire. Many people tried this out and from the look at their faces they thoroughly enjoyed it although at the beginning you could see some hesitation.

This is an annual event and next year will be their 13th Annual Festival. The event will be held on September 17 and 18 2011.

(Obsidian Butterfly)

Fire Spectacular

2010-08-12T07:41:23Z

This year’s Fire Spectacular, on Sunday August 8, was slated to begin around seven in the evening. The Fire Spectacular is a festival event where fire, dance, art, and music are celebrated. The event had a small festival type of atmosphere. Several vendor booths were set up to sell goods related to the event. Drumsum, a local world music style band, was on hand to provide musical entertainment. The event started slow but gained momentum as people started to set up their sitting area in front of the Southside Park Amphitheatre. Once the entertainment began on the amphitheatre stage it indeed became a spectacular event.

Earlier in the day, as I approached the entrance to the event, three people were preparing a lunch meal for themselves while selling tickets. One of the three, Allen Denault, was preparing sandwiches for himself, his sister and her boyfriend. We chatted for a little while and he was telling me about a similar fire event that had taken place in Reno the weekend before. The Reno event drew several thousand spectatorst. As we talked I asked Allen if he lived in Sacramento. “I used to live in Sacramento and had an art studio in the area” he said. He now lives in Placerville and was telling me about an art project that he will be working on. He’s looking to create a sculpture and has enlisted kids from the area, who have signed up, to collaboratie on the project. It’s always good to hear from artists who want to pass on their craft and hopefully one or more of these young students can acquire the same type of passion for the arts as Allen exhibits.

Scheduled demonstrations and workshops took place as the performers got ready for the evening event. A Hoop Dance Workshop was in progress when I first arrived and a musical group, Drumsum, was setting up on another side of the amphitheatre. Several audience members took up some hoops and practiced their dance skills. Looking around the event area it was interesting to observe the way people interacted with each other it seemed like many spectators and performers knew each other. It had a “communal” type of atmosphere, very relaxing and soothing.

Artists scheduled to appear included Rosa del Fuego (performing dances to celebrate fertility and earth power) . Also on hand was the Kundalin Bellydance Troupe, Sonya Castoe, Vikram Tawler, and the lovely Pika doing a fire dance. Controlled Burn performed a longer fire show and Obsidian Butterfly was the final act of the night.

I sat with Sequoia for a few minutes, earlier in the day, to talk about the show. She’s a founder of Obsidian Butterfly who had 11 people in the group for the night. She indicated this was the first year the event was held at Southside Park but it was the 3rd year of the event. Next year’s event will take place on August 13, 2011 which will coincide with a whole moon day. Obsidian Butterfly has shows throughout the year and is available for special appearances such as birthdays, weddings, and other small gatherings. If you’re planning a special event this is the best time of the year to book the group for special personal events. I asked her what she thought of the evening’s event and she went on to say “It’s something unique because it’s like a large collaboration art piece, with all colors coming together and making something interesting each year.” Her passion for these events and how she sees art came across as she described the event. She ended by saying “It just keeps getting better and better”. I did not ask if Sequoia was her real name, I think it is, I based that observation on the fact that I know people whose real names are Autumn Sky and Sunrise. Also noticeable was the front of the Obsidian Butterfly booth where some paintings created by Sequoia were exhibited.

While at the event I was glad to meet and listen to the sage photographic advice of Andy"Playarazzi" Pischalnikoff. I have admired his work and it was a pleasure to meet him. His fire performance photos, including Burning Man are fantastic. As we sat and photographed the event I was able to learn from his photographic techniques and welcomed his advice. To see more of his work log on to his website.

All the performances lived up to the “Spectacular” name. One act after the other was exquisitely performed and at the end the audience could have savored more fire in constant movement entertainment. Sequoia has worked hard over the years as an artist, as an instructor and fire entertainer and the closing Obsedian Butterfly act put all of this together for a true Fire Spectacular. This type of event is for all ages and although fire conjures thoughts of danger it is all controlled and safety is top priority. Log on to Obsidian Butterfly to see upcoming events and learn more about Sequoia and her art. By combining fire, dance, and music Obsidian Butterfly and the other acts were able to create magnificent art on stage.

Photos:

1 - Me, playing with fire (photo by Andy Playarazzi Pischalnikoff

2 to 14 - Fire Spectacular

Interview: Ian Shive, Conservation Photographer

2009-11-05T05:56:04Z

Photos: 1) Ian Shive at work; 2) Sequoia National Park; 3) Yellowstone National Park

Interview by Tony Sheppard
Originally published in Capitol Weekly

Ian Shive, the photographer behind the new pictorial book "The National Parks: Our American Landscape" recently spent a day in Sacramento, visiting a management class in the Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration program at Sac State. I asked him a few questions about his work and the value of parks in our lives:

Photography as a living is new to you – before it was more like a cell phone plan: Unlimited nights and weekends.

Very true [laughs].

What were you doing before and how did you get into this?

I was working as a publicist for Columbia Pictures, marketing mainstream films. I worked on at least 60 films for them. I worked on the “Spiderman” franchise. We broke some new ground. It was a time when grassroots marketing really became a critical part of that type of film. Photography for me was kind of a passion but never to the point where it is today. It was something that I enjoyed, it was something that gave me a creative outlet in an environment that was creative marketing, but not the same as creating something from scratch. As I entered into the world and made my photographs visible for people in the professional community I got a lot of response and that encouraged me to then do more of that and get more of a response and see how far I could take it.

In the world of photography, which could take you anywhere, why the National Parks?

They were the obvious place to go when I was a corporate, drone. I was looking for a much better word. They’re the obvious place to go because you know you don’t have the time to explore the entire coast of California and sure it’s beautiful but you have to go down to every beach and I had Saturday and Sunday. So the obvious choices were to go to Sequoia and to Yosemite, the places where you knew you could go into and you would at least have some great options in a very short period of time.

The other thing I have to say is that National Parks are crown jewels of what we have in wilderness. They are the best, they are the true icons of American culture. Also knowing that they’re so vast that the roads only cover a small part of it that there would still be room for exploration as well, that there would be a theme I could develop on.

You’ve described the National Parks essentially as islands of conservation in, presumably, oceans of disregard. What do you mean by that and how do we change our mindset?

Well, we have borders. National Parks have borders. They end, they have communities that build up around them, they have laws that only protect things up to that line. A good example is the Channel Islands in California. The marine sanctuary itself is just this little square and if you go on the edge of that square you can fish. What you see is boatloads on the edge fishing, right where the line ends.

Wildlife doesn’t understand what that means. How do you manage that, how do you effectively manage something when it’s the size of a tennis court? And that’s a sanctuary? For what?

And that’s always been a confusing thing to me and so I try and push an agenda that you can’t fence certain things in and they don’t work well if you do. I think a lot of biology and a lot of studies have proven that effective environment management has come in corridors.

You’ve called yourself a conservation photographer, rather than a nature photographer – how do you make that distinction?

Very simple. I feel the nature photographer does exactly what I do in the sense of photographing a beautiful landscape or wildlife or something like that. A conservation photographer takes those images and becomes an advocate for whatever they’re photographing. It’s advocacy that makes the difference – not just shooting something but working to protect it. The longer you spend in a place like Yosemite or anywhere wilderness…you realize that you’ve been borrowing from it: Maybe it’s solitude, maybe it’s a portfolio of images, maybe it’s “Grizzly Automotive” – you’re always borrowing from it but you’re never giving back.

When I was photographing in Henry Coe and a lot of other [California] State Parks, I had no idea that this issue would be happening – underfunding or cutting or closing them completely.

So what do you tell Californians now, who are watching this portfolio of extraordinary places at risk of neglect and underfunding?

We’ve got to fight it. We’ve got to find a way to fund it, find a way to fight it, and find a way to preserve it. I think the State parks are no less important than our National Parks. They’re not just about environment, they’re about culture, they affect people. The National Parks contribute $10 billion a year to their local economies. I believe State Parks have a major contribution in a similar way. I think the public needs to become stewards of these places and make sure they’re run properly. If we all contribute as a community because they’re for the community, then I think we’ll actually find some solutions that work and we can continue having these places.

Local journalist Reed Parsell releases California park guide

2009-07-01T05:20:41Z

How does one possibly describe the beauty of spending nearly three weeks in some of California's national parks?

Local journalist Reed Parsell wrote about it. His travel guide, Fodor's in Focus: Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, was released last month.

After spending 20 days hiking and exploring three of California's national parks last summer, he approached previous pieces written by Fodor's writers, updated them and added his own take on the parks.

Parsell says roughly 70 percent of the book is new material written by him.

"I think it was a good move for Fodor's to focus on these three popular parks in a user-friendly, pocket-size format," he said. "It allowed me to describe things in a level of detail that should give people a good idea of what to expect and how to prioritize their visits. I'm thrilled with how it turned out."

He has a special fondness for the hiking chapters, which was his favorite part of the research process.

"It seemed like a lot of work, but the book feels small in my hands and I am in awe of people who take on larger projects," he said. "Mine was compact and tailored to my interests."

While he has written about many parks and locations across the United States, Parsell's favorite travel destination isn't anywhere close. His favorite place to visit is the southwestern coast of Australia.

"Perth strikes me as what metro L.A. might be like with 13 million fewer people," he said.

Parsell first became involved in the travel genre in the 1990s when he edited the now-defunct Frommer's travel guides. He also had a hand in updating and writing a few chapters in both Fodor's California's 2010 and Fodor's National Parks of the West.

He first got involved with Fodor's when one of his colleagues at The Sacramento Bee, heard that the travel guide company needed writers and suggested that Parsell go for it.

Parsell is an active journalist in Sacramento and has an extensive résumé at various outlets in town. He began as a copy editor and travel writer for The Bee in 1994 and also taught the journalism and ethics course at Sacramento State for three semesters until 2008. Currently, he still works for The Bee and is the "Go Green" columnist as well as a regular contributing writer for Sacramento Magazine.

Copies of his book are available for purchase at select Border and Barnes & Noble bookstores, as well as on on various websites, like Amazon.com.