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The Central Valley

Just Passing Through…

California’s great Central Valley… most of us urbanites in the Bay Area or LA tend to think of it as a place we just pass through on our way elsewhere (LA, or Yosemite, or Vegas, or Nevada, or Seattle, or whatever), but the place has fascinated me since I moved to California a million years ago. So much so that I spend some of my vacations in Bakersfield, exploring the city and the surrounding oilfields and places like Taft and Buttonwillow, or up north in Redding, doing the same sort of thing (minus the oilfields). I’m also the sort of person who finds driving Interstate 5 mesmerizing — fascinating — a day well spent (especially if I can get off it and explore every hour or so). But for all that I can’t claim to be anything more than just passing through, and most of the photos here are just snapshots, with a strong bias towards the greater Bakersfield area and the West Side, mostly because oilfields and the way humans adapt to living in and around them fascinate me, but also because of the Bakersfield Sound connection and its more general place in history and geography.

Also check out the two oilfield videos I’ve done over the years in the Bakersfield area, Pumpjack and Drive-By: Oilfield for a more focused and flowing view of the extended Bakersfield area (both videos are also featured on my Hamish Reid Video site).