California Dreamers; Portraits of Californians at Home

As was true with the making of my New Yorkers book, a story unfolded while I continued to photograph these Californians at home. The cliché of palm trees and sunny interiors was there for sure, but that was only the first layer of the onion. And while I did have the good fortune of photographing some well knowns, I also found others who had redefined their goals as time went by. If their dreams fell short they just looked for new ones, because the same shared spirit that brought them all here in the first place, shines on. Whether you are a snowbird from Canada , a traveler from a faraway land looking for a better life, or a kid from Cleveland in pursuit of a Netflix deal, California beckons. Generations of immigrants have headed west to plant their flag in the years following the great Gold Rush: movie makers, farmers, artists, oil drillers, starlets, writers, and so many more. California became the destination for new beginnings, and it remains a place where one might strike it rich with a little luck, and a lot of hard work. Hope remains the glue that binds them all together.