The New Forty-Niners

Photographs by Sarina Finkelstein. Texts by Lucy Davies, Kevin Fagan and Sarina Finkelstein.

Shot over four years, THE NEW FORTY-NINERS documents the new wave of gold prospectors who have rushed to California 160 years after the original Gold Rush of 1849. The tactile and earthy photographs show the gamblers, the adventurers, the desperate, the self-reliant and the young-at-heart in their camps and on claims spread across this magnificently wild landscape. They document those who endeavor to make a living prospecting for ever elusive gold and the impact recent environmental legislation banning dredging equipment has had on their livelihood. THE NEW FORTY-NINERS juxtaposes the elemental rugged life of these passionate and obsessive individuals with gold souvenir shops, bars and motels celebrating the mining history of California, "The Golden State."

This book was a 2014 Photo District News Photo Annual Winner in the Books category and an American Photography 29 Chosen Winner. The work has appeared in solo shows at the SFO Museum, RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco, Weitman Gallery in St. Louis and Newspace Center for Photography in Portland. It has been featured on BBC News, in Smithsonian, The London Daily Telegraph's SEVEN, Delayed Gratification, Amica, Fluter, Io Donna, Business Insider, Bullion Magazine, on The New York Times' Lens, TIME.com, NPR. org, Discover Magazine's Visual Science and Photo District News' Photo of the Day, among others.