Immigration and the Changing Picture of California

Before National Geographic, before the Discovery Channel, Carleton Watkins set the standard for sweeping panoramic photographs of the American West, from vast Yosemite to booming San Francisco. Bob Sipchen, editor of Sierra magazine, leads a panel discussion based on the groundbreaking Getty Center exhibition, "Dialogue among Giants: Carleton Watkins and the Rise of Photography in California." Panelists include Getty Research Fellow Ken Gonzales-Day, UCSD historian Nayan Shah, and Matthew Garcia from Brown University. They explore the dynamic relationship between nature, immigration, and development. How does California's physical environment attract inhabitants and how has it been re-shaped by their efforts to build communities they can call home?