RON HENGGELER

Statue of El Cid, military hero of Spain. This towering bronze sits in front of the Palace of the Legion of Honor.
The statue was created in 1927 by sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington.

My shadow, on the footbridge that begins the newly restored Muir Beach Trail.
The Redwood Creek Restoration at Muir Beach is a multi-year, landscape-level coastal restoration project designed to bring back the ecological functions of the creek, freshwater wetlands, intermittent tidal lagoon and dunes over a 46-acre site at the mouth of this iconic Bay Area watershed.

Hagar and Ishmael Taking Leave of Abraham ca. 1650-1660
Oil on canvas by Barent Fabritius
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

Sunrise from my window on January 13, 2014

Virgil Thomson, circa 1984
I spent three days this week scanning over 500 old photos of Virgil Thomson that I shot over the years that I knew him.
Eventually, I will be posting some of them on my web site. (Thomson wrote the scores to Gertrude Stein’s two operas, “Four Saints in Three Acts” and “The Mother of Us All”)

The Calling of Saint Matthew ca. 1629
Oil on canvas by Matthias Stom[er]
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

Redwood Creek begins in the peaks of Marin County's tallest mountain, Mount Tamalpais. It then flows through the primeval forests of Muir Woods, open expanses of grasslands, tangles of chaparral, ephemeral wetlands, and refreshing niches of riparian woodland, until it finally reaches the Pacific Ocean at Muir Beach.

A Shepherdess ca. 1640
Oil on panel by Jacob Backer
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

The north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge viewed from the trail at the first turn-out along the Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands. January 14, 2014

Christ at the Column 1632
Oil on panel by Pieter Fransz. De Grebber
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

The nearly full moon, and the roadway on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge viewed from the first turn-out along the Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands.
January 14, 2014

Virgil Thomson, circa 1984
This photo was taken on the afternoon that Virgil wrote a piece of music for piano, a musical portrait titled, “Lines for and about Ron Henggeler”.

San Francisco at dusk, viewed from Hawk Hill, the highest summit along the Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands.
January 14, 2014

Francisco in a spot of warming morning sunlight

The Triumph of Sesostris 1631
Oil on panel by Pieter Lastman
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

The Point Bonita viewed from near the Headlands Lookout and Black Sand Beach, on the Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands.
January 14, 2014

Waiting for the bus at Fulton and Masonic in San Francisco

Sunset on the Pacific Ocean at the Muir Beach Overlook

The north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge viewed from the trail at the first turn-out along the Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands.
January 14, 2014

Virgil Thomson, circa 1987-88
I spent three days this week scanning over 500 old photos of Virgil Thomson that I shot over the years that I knew him.
Eventually, I will be posting some of them on my web site.

The Marriage of Tobias and Sarah ca. 1673
Oil on canvas by Jan Steen
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

Muir Beach far below, seen from the top of a coastal ridge along the Muir Beach Trail

The north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge viewed from the trail at the first turn-out along the Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands.
January 14, 2014

Portrait of a Gentleman in White ca. 1635
Oil on canvas by Frans Hals
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

Re-planted willow tree saplings at Muir Beach.
The Redwood Creek watershed is one of the 25 global biodiversity "hot spots" recognized by the Nature Conservancy and targeted by the global conservation community as key to preserving the world's ecosystems. It is also within the Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve, one of over 400 reserves designated by the United Nations to provide a global network of the world's major ecosystem types.

Redwood Creek where it meets the Pacific at Muir Beach.
The creek and its watershed are also home to some of the West Coast's most imperiled species. Coho salmon numbers in the Central California Coast are so low that the species is on the brink of extinction here. Restoration designs incorporated very specific habitat features such as side channels, backwater and large woody debris that provide food and shelter for young Coho, and also for threatened steelhead trout. The project also benefits California red-legged frogs, which have already been seen using the new ponds created for them on the site.

The south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge viewed from near the Point Bonita in the Marin Headlands.
January 14, 2014

View of the Falls at Vallombrosa ca. 1797
Oil on canvas by Louis Gauffier
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

Mark Anstendig and Virgil Thomson at the Garden Court in the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, circa 1981-82
The day this photo was taken, Thomson spoke at the First Unitarian Church on Geary at Franklin.
Afterwards, Mark and I took him to lunch at the Garden Court in the Palace Hotel on Market Street.

The north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge viewed from the second turn-out along the Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands.
January 14, 2014

Marie-Anne Carolus-Duran 1874
Oil on canvas by Emile Carolus-Duran
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

The Marin Headland and the Golden Gate viewed from the top of a coastal ridge along the Muir Beach Trail.

Peasant Girl with Sheep
Oil on canvas by Julien Dupre
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

The north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge viewed from the first turn-out along the Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands.
January 14, 2014

The Russian Bride’s Attire 1887
Oil on canvas by Konstantin Makovsky
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

Sunrise from my window, January 13, 2014

The footbridge over Redwood Creek at Muir Beach.
A new 225-linear foot pedestrian bridge, with a visitor gathering area, now spans the creek and its floodplain, providing access to the beach while protecting the habitats of the plants and animals that live there. About 500 linear feet of the Coastal Trail was also realigned in 2010 to allow a very weedy, eroded ravine and hillside that drain into the creek to be fully restored.

The north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge viewed from the second turn-out along the Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands.
January 14, 2014

Love and the Maiden 1877
Tempera, gold paint, gold leaf on canvas by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

Far below is Pirates Cove, seen from the top of a coastal ridge along the Muir Beach Trail.
In the far distance on the horizon, the Golden Gate, Lands End, and Avenues of San Francisco.

Redwood Creek at Muir Beach in the Marin Headlands.
Years of farming and development at and near Muir Beach had created a dysfunctional hydrological system and caused habitat fragmentation, poor flow and sediment conveyance, flooding, fish stranding, and inadequate winter habitat for juvenile salmon and trout. The Redwood Creek Restoration Project is attempting to ameliorate some of this damage and return the creek, floodplain and riparian areas to a more natural and ecologically functional condition.

A Revery 1892
Oil on canvas by Albert Joseph Moore
At the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco

A hiker ascending to the summit of a coastal cliff along the Muir Beach Trail

Looking into the reflections of Redwood Creek from the new footbridge at Muir Beach.
That’s me with the camera on the bottom of the photo.

Muir Beach viewed from the beginning of the Muir Beach Trail at the base of the coastal mountain

Standing at the top of the Muir Beach Trail, a view looking south at the coastal ridges of the Marin Headlands
Pirates Cove is directly below to the left

The north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge viewed from the ruins of World War Two bunkers in the Marin Headlands.
January 14, 2014

Sunset from the Muir Beach Overlook