Faces of Berkeley: Manifest Destiny of a Photographer

For a Berkeley resident of 39 years, Greg MacGregor, there are three true bargains in the world: a can of tuna, a 2-by-4 piece of lumber and the freedom provided by a gallon of gas.

This notion of mobility is central to his most recent photography project, "Lewis and Clark Revisited: A Trail in Modern Day." Visually documenting the trip of the two continent-crossing explorers that took place more than 200 years ago, the project is currently at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis.

MacGregor, professor emeritus of photography at Cal State East Bay, repeated the trip of Lewis and Clark in bits and pieces. His goal was to capture through film the nature of westward migration.

The artist, who grew up in the isolated western Wisconsin town of LaCrosse, says his trek to Berkeley in 1966 inspired his work, which aims to connect past travel to today's-something he says can be as much of an adventure as that of Lewis and Clark.

"We're frolicking in partially dangerous environs," MacGregor says. "If your car breaks down in the desert you can walk maybe four miles before you die of dehydration."

MacGregor arrived in Berkeley to work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory after earning a master's degree in physics from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Initially his work focused on X-rays, but after four years he was asked to participate in hydrogen bomb testing. At that point, he decided to leave the profession and join an art school at San Francisco State University.

"It was a hard decision to leave science. I was 23 and had a secure job and 10 papers published in astrophysics," says MacGregor. By then, he had joined the Students for a Democratic Society, a radical student organization of the 1960s. "The problem was, (science) wasn't something I had a passion for."

Upon leaving the lab, MacGregor began experimenting with different projects, including an unpublished one in which he filmed pipe bomb explosions.

He eventually was hired to photograph trails of western expansion. An exhibit on the Overland Trail is currently on display at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.

Exposure attracted the attention of the National Park Service, who contracted him for the current exhibit. Although it is not the first of its kind, it is unique in its vision and presentation, MacGregor says.

Traditionally, he says, photographers have tried to capture the environment as a pristine wilderness as it was when Lewis and Clark made the journey.

"I'm trying to revisit history and to examine how we cover up our own past," MacGregor says. "We've dammed up rivers, planted potato patches and put in roads. Every photo conveys that people are there or have been there, and that's on purpose."

Images of MacGregor's project have also been compiled and published in a book, titled "Lewis and Clark Revisited: A Photographer's Trail."

Each of his photos depicts a location from the journey alongside a description of that place from Lewis and Clark's diary. For example, a description of the meat consumed at a particular location is juxtaposed with an image of roadkill. In doing this, MacGregor says he is hoping to strike a chord with the photography community.

"It's insightful photography," says Ken Light, adjunct professor and director of the Center of Photography at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. "He puts contemporary issues in a historical context, and that's very important."

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