hough I was born and grew up in Norway and then resided for a total of seven years in Spain, England, Greece and Sweden, I have by far lived most of my adult life in Contra Costa County. One of my many pastimes has always been to explore new roads and backroads, a trait I most likely inherited from my father, who usually believed that the most direct route from point A to B was through a labyrinth of little country roads. I had not lived long in Contra Costa before I started noticing that I knew more about the county’s many hidden places and backroads than most of my native friends. The more Contra Costa has revealed itself to me over the years, the more I have wondered why no one has found its vast natural beauty worthy of a photography book. Several excellent books have been written about the county’s rich and fascinating history. Most photography books about the region, however, either cover just San Francisco or the entire Bay Area, at best with only a few pictures from Contra Costa. So I finally decided that the time had come for me to step up to the challenge and document the captivating beauty of this ninth most populous of California’s 58 counties. This is therefore a book not about history, even though Contra Costa has seen its fair share of it. It is not about business, despite the rapid growth in commercial business that Contra Costa has seen over the past 20 years. This is a book dedicated to the wonderful beauty of this county of 733 square miles, where over 900,000 people have made their home. The beauty of its nature, its mountains and hills, its people and its cities. In a county with 28 regional parks, and a wilderness area in its center that covers 89 square miles, or 12% of its total land area, one could easily publish an entire series of photography books about nature and wildlife alone. With this book, however, I wanted to present a more balanced view of the entire county. The book is therefore not concentrated solely on the wilderness areas. People should be able to recognize themselves.

In order to ensure the highest possible quality of the photographs and the design of the book, I convinced my old friend Ilpo Okkonen to join me on the project. Ilpo is a professional photographer and book designer from Finland. We have been close personal friends for over 20 years, during which he has published a long range of photography books in Europe. One of Ilpo’s works, “Finnish Architecture in the 20th Century” was awarded the most beautiful book in the world prize at the International Book Fair in Leipzig, Germany, in 1986. Later, Ilpo served on the international judges’ panel himself. Ilpo’s books have even been used by the government of Finland as official gifts for visiting foreign dignitaries, including Pope John Paul II and Queen Elisabeth II of England. During several visits by Ilpo in 1997 and 1998, we traveled thousands of miles, crisscrossing the county from Knightsen to Kensington, from Rodeo to San Ramon, and from Richmond to Brentwood. Ilpo shot over 10,000 gorgeous pictures covering everything from the Blackhawk Country Club and lush estates in Lamorinda to romantic old homes in Port Costa. We got beautiful landscape pictures, ranging from Mount Diablo on a cold winter morning to the majestic redwoods in the Moraga Canyon on a hot summer evening. We captured the greenest hills west of Ireland around Kirker Pass and Marsh Creek roads, as well as the golden hills of California. With his three cameras, Ilpo photographed beautiful architecture and busy city life as well as flourishing farming communities, and happy boat people from Point Richmond to Discovery Bay. If you are one of the insiders who have already discovered the beauty of Contra Costa, my hope is that you will find this book a worthy representation. If you are one of those who cannot see its beauty because you spend too many hours in traffic every day on congested freeways, my hope is that this book will help to open your eyes. Respectfully, Frank Haegeland