North of Ojai

North of Ojai

I’m sorting through a lot of October photos to see if I can put together a cohesive narrative. I added some scanned film images to my catalog while I was traveling, so they occasionally sneak up on me as I’m trying to cull the project files.

I took this photo on a Pentax K1000 north of Ojai and south of Bakersfield. I tried to find the exact canal spot on Google Maps, but I can’t remember the route I took. I jumped off I5 at some point because I was tired of the interstate, so that’s throwing me for a bit of a loop.


North of Ojai, July or August 2019.

North of Ojai, July or August 2019.

I remember that region feeling like an inferno in late summer. It smelled like agriculture. I tried to ask at a gas station about the crop or crops I was smelling. It was probably an impossible question to answer. That area is an agricultural wonderland. Still, they suggested that I might be smelling pistachios.

I drove back this way after a nice stay in Carpinteria. I went to Paradise to see how it was doing a year or so after the Camp Fire. I wish I’d made it to Paradise faster and stayed longer. I hope to return.

California is on fire again. There have been a lot of recent articles explaining that these fires are not part of what is a regular occurrence in the western states. I need to read the articles, even though I don’t need any convincing. But It’s never a good idea to take in conclusions and ideas based on headlines.