Bakersfield Yard looking east from the sand tower at the engine service facility. Note the turntable and roundhouse with several yard engines (center foreground), crew dispatcher/RFE office at right edge. The locomotives just below the yardmaster’s tower are likely awaiting a power swap for an inbound Starpacer which the herder will assist by using the mainline pocket. Breckenridge Mountain and Bear Mountain make up the distant horizon. This image of the Bakersfield roundhouse predates the above image as the backshops are visible behind the roundhouse. Note that yard engines at Bakersfield predominately faced the west as depicted by engine 1230.This view is was taken to the right of the preceding photo on the same day. This was before the water tank was demolished (I guess early 1970s).This is my favorite morning view of the west end of the main yard. It is now the quite time after all the nighttime traffic came and went. The crew dispatcher’s building is in the center, and the yard office, switchmen’s locker/lunch room, and trainmaster’s office are in the wooden building on the right edge (note that the water tank is gone in this mid 1970s view). There are two of the ubiquitous “carry-alls) parked in front of it. The two west-facing goats are for switch crews, and the east-facing goat on the turnout track is likely for a local. The yardmaster’s tower is just to the left of the center greenish bright light.
Most “octopus” trees that I encountered, are Sitka Spruce trees that are growing atop a stump of a logged tree. Here in the coastal environs of northern California and southern Oregon the stumps are usually redwood or spruce. In my opinion, the best examples are of trees that rooted atop an old spruce stump. The spruce stumps are less resistant to rot than the redwood, and so they can decompose under the growing tree that is on it. Eventually the stump will decompose into the forest floor, leaving the spider tree as its memorial. If the tree that grows atop a redwood stump is a spruce, it may not last as long as the stump, and so are less common to my eyes*.
*I am not an expert, but these are my observations.
Stump atop a stump atop another stump. Canon 5dmIIA land octopus, Canon 5dmII at 20mm
When I took this photograph the business had already closed its doors, and soon it was to receive a makeover. I have not gone back to photograph it as it is now. I think the morning light (or is it the glow from high-pressure sodium lights) makes the image. Speaking of lighting, ten years ago there were very few LED street lights. I recall flying from San Francisco to San Diego one evening. Looking out the window, I watched the gold-colored lights of the cities along the coast. They looked like sparkling gems. Nowadays, they must look like sparkling diamonds.
Mad River Ferry House 1993. Mamiya 645 with 45mm lens
I do not recall where I got the information that this place was known as the “Mad River Ferry House”, but I think it was a good source. This is a good example of the work that I was doing in the pre digital age of my photography. I recall thinking back then that this image was a good candidate for hand-coloring. I think it still may be.
I normally scan my old work from negatives. This photo was scanned from an eleven by fourteen print that was to large for my scanner. I had to scan it twice, moving it on the platen so that each scan covered one-half of the print. I then combined them to make this composite image. It may not be obvious, but the original print was pretty good for me to pull this much detail.
Mad River Ferry House, 2012, Canon 5dMll
The setting changed quite a bit during the almost twenty years since the first photograph. The interesting fence and mailbox were gone, but I was bathed in some nice warm evening sunlight. This makes me want to go back and see how it is doing now.
Moving up to 2012 I want to share three interpretations of the same image. By this time, I was becoming more competent with my photo editing skills. I was fortunate to have access to work with the local Photoshop Users Group, and with the Redwood Camera Club. Both venues provided me with the tools to unlock the potential within my photographs. There were (still are) many challenges with learning and practicing the seemingless unlimited potential these tools provided.
I practiced what I learned in the actual taking of the photographs, and with the tools available for editing and interpreting imagery. The first photograph is the “digital negative” from which the following three interpretations are made. I did clone out some of the reeds in the foreground, and the backside of a sign (in the tree on the right).
"I AM"- are the two most powerful words in the dictionary because the ending determines your destiny....so join me in my fight against PD to make sure that everyone who suffers from this chronic progressive degenerative disease can develop the courage to shout to the wind- I AM Fierce and Courageous ....
Thomas Bethune's Photographic Journal 