A Fragment of Healdsburg

As many of you know, in my spare time, I am interested in photography, mainly landscape photography which reflects my love of the outdoors. As anyone who has a passing interest in photography knows, a large part of photography is about creating an image that has three key elements: a subject, good composition and good light. Embracing these three elements in a project around Healdsburg is a local photographer, Richard "Chip" Hay.

I was recently talking to Chip, someone I originally met through selling the River House project, and we started talking about a photography project that he was doing having recently acquired a medium format film camera. As part of trying out his camera he photographed various buildings around Healdsburg. According to Richard, he and his friends, enjoyed the images so it slowly morphed into doing a series of images. In talking about the project, Richard said, "I decided to do a series of images that were graphically interesting and that portrayed the 'older' Healdsburg as well as 'newer' Healdsburg. Rather than focus on complete structures I focussed on parts of structures and limited myself to structures that could be photographed from a public space."

"I started cycling around town looking for interesting images which I would then photograph with my iPhone as a study.  Them I would go back with my larger camera to photograph it.  I would often go early in the morning to frame  an image without parked cars being in the way.  This project has also made me very aware of the strong sunlight during many of our spring/summer days and its angles as the earth moves through the day," added Chip.

The series is an interesting series of images because it reflects the past and the present of Healdsburg, taking in the mixture of farming past and its wine country destination present. Historic homes and more modern structures. In Chip's words, "Vernacular design persists - in older buildings not yet re-purposed and in newer buildings drawing stylistic inspiration from the past. In these photographs, I invite you to see fragments of design that caught my eye as I wondered the town."

The Shed

Even though the Shed only opened in 2013 it made a big impression in its short lifetime. Unlike many old buildings that have been re-incarnated, this is a new building being re-incarnated within the first decade of its life into what is now the new plant-based restaurant/coffee shop/arts and entertainment space, Little Saint. This is just one of the many different Single Thread projects popping up in town.

 Cerri Building

The Cerri Building owned by the City of Healdsburg has recently received a $7m commitment from the Foley Foundation to create an indoor space for the farmers market so it can become operate year round. Given its farming roots, I can't think of a better way to bring what is an iconic, albeit aging, site to life.

105 Fitch St, Healdsburg

105 Fitch St is the purest example of a Greek Revival residence in Healdsburg. The front facade is vaguely reminiscent of a Greek temple with it columned portico and boxed gable facing the street. It is currently on the market for $2.2m and is one of only a handful of historic homes that has been for sale in the last few years. See this separate blog post on the recent historic homes for sale.

The Russian River Railway Bridge

The bridge over the Russian River in Healdsburg dates back to 1921. Replacement of this bridge is a symbolic milestone in the bid to get SMART train, representing the future of transport, to Healdsburg and ultimately to Cloverdale. While some initial funding has been secured it will take a while for SMART to get beyond Windsor. 

Healdsburg Hotel

Taken outside the original Hotel Healdsburg, build in 2001, this was the start of string of developments by Piazza Hospitality that spawned H2 Hotel and then H3, Harman House. They have also now plans in the works for H4 which is going to be built where I am sitting right now, in the W Real Estate office on Healdsburg Ave.

Mill District

This is very much a glimpse of the new as  the first stage of Mill District project emerges from the ground. Following on from the affordable housing will be the phase 1 of the residential units which will involve going down into the ground first as part of building the required underground car parking. For more on the Mill District see this post.

An Inspiring Series

What started out as a side conversation with Richard has inspired me to taking on a photography project in Healdsburg. Ideas are still forming in my mind but it will be one focussed more on rural Healdsburg. I think it is sometimes too easy to live in a place and not really take everything in as we go about out daily lives. I feel very lucky to live in such an amazing place, it is nice to have a reason to look at in a different way. I hope you have enjoyed seeing these images and that they inspire you to take in your surroundings and appreciate the things around you that you probably see every day but don't necessarily stop and think about the stories behind them. 

The whole series is available to view and purchase from www.rhayphotography.com