stylin' ?

I know this may be the "Pants on the Ground" style, but I honestly think this guy needs a belt, and maybe some longer pant legs.

Photo taken yesterday at the intersection of Las Palmas and 9th street Patterson.

rafting the San Joaquin river

Got the ol' flat bottom Jon boat ready for the river and took it out a week ago to see what's been happening on the San Joaquin River. It's just a small 14ft boat, good enough for up to 3 people, but it's perfect for the river when the water levels get really low in the summer time. With the flat bottom, you just pull up the motor and skim right over the sand bars to get to the fishing spots.
I haven't picked up my fishing license yet this year, but I need to get it soon, because we could see and hear tons of fish jumping in the river around us. The purpose of the trip wasn't for fishing this time though, it was just to see how long it would take to float with the current from the Las Palmas boat launch in Patterson, to the Grayson landing at Laird Park. I'd floated from Crows Landing to Patterson before, and it only took a few hours, but traveling by the twists and turns of the San Joaquin is a lot longer than the distance that the crow flies and decided to try it for myself.
I was surprised to see so much wildlife along the river. Only using a trolling motor and some paddles, we were able to sneak up on a lot of wildlife that would have otherwise heard us a lot earlier had we had an outboard. This was one of a handful of beavers that we'd seen between Patterson and Grayson, as well as quite a few other river faring mammals that were probably muskrats or some kind of river rat.
Although there was alot of birds and animals abound, it is always quite sad to see how polluted our portion of the San Joaquin River is. It may look like the chocolate river from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but you definitely don't want to drink these fluids. With the high water levels, alot of the trash has been washed away, however, more trash from upstream has washed down and become lodged anywhere it can. Besides the entire river being lined in some sort of trash, these barrels of who knows what and two half sunken boats could be seen.
But it was still a very beautiful day, a little sun, a little clouds. Many many Red Tailed Hawks, Great Blue Herons, Egrets, Mallards, Mergansers, and Cormorants could easily be seen. This natural by way may be very close to where we all live, but it seemed a world away that afternoon.
I doubt many folks are seen traveling this water way that was once the pathway for paddle boats headed to Grayson, Newman, or Gustine. Probably why these cows were so curious.
Also passed by this skumpy looking teepee as we neared closer to Grayson.

I knew we were getting real close when we could see the inmates of the Stanislaus County Honor Farm. I had no idea that the river was so close to the correctional facility, but when we floated by, the inmates all came up to the fence to ask if we had caught any fish.

All in all, the trip took about 3.5 hours, way shorter than I originally anticipated. As we pulled around Laird Park and docked the boat, I noticed and photographed this strange looking water fowl. I've looked in a few bird identification books and have come up clueless as to what this bird may be. I'm guessing it's some sort of goose with an interesting color mutation on its plumage, but it seemed like a permanent resident of Laird Park.

parting images of 2009

Alas another year end issue of the Irrigator has come and gone, and my chance to showcase all the news photos from the previous year that meant alot to me... problem is, there's not enough space in our paper to show all of them.

So here they are, in the order that I prioritized them in, from #1 to #34, with a little bit about each one. When you see numbers missing, those were the photos that were chosen by editors to be included in the print edition of the Irrigator.

#1 Spectators at the Stan Co. fair destruction derby

Trying to find a new angle on the derby I noticed members of the pit crews peeking over fences and standing on top of fences to get a better look at their competing contestants. I was really trying to capture that feel of everyone trying to get a glimpse of the action and decided to do my own tight rope act by standing on a fence, holding the camera high above my head to really try and emphasize that aerial shot. Compositionally I love this photo, the entire frame is filled with something interesting going on. The lower foreground, mid ground, and back ground are filled with spectators giving immense depth to those in attendance yet those in the foreground don't block out too much of the action. The upper left quadrant of the photo is filled with the familiar smashing and bashing of the derby that everyone wants to see.

#3 Water Allocation
Taken during an amazingly beautiful day in February. I was photographing the local waterways for a story on the scarce water allocations being handed down by the state. I had some other shots of the Delta Mendota, but the other ones didn't have the red and white life preservers that were near this bridge in Westley and I felt that those floating balls gave the photo more depth and scale of how much water runs through our community that we don't have access to. Looking closely, you can even see the blooming almond orchards over the levee at right.

#4 Fig Avenue house fire
This one was one of my favorites. I elaborated more on this in the article that I wrote for the Irrigator which you can check here. This one I thought told the story well. Fire, spreading through the roof and to the yard, threatening the animals penned up behind before the owners came to let them free.

#5 Vernalis River Fire

I also recounted these accounts in the article, but I really liked this one because, although it didn't show the majority of the flames, I did feel that it portrayed alot of the mayhem going on in that small portion of isolated vegetation fire. Volunteer firefighters going every which way with their hoses in hand while the flames and smoke continued to surround us.

#8 "Performance Evaluation"

It may have been just a routine evaluation of our city manager Cleve Morris, but a crowd of well over a hundred people packed city hall with signs and banners ready to voice their opinions about their support for Morris, and make sure that this routine evaluation didn't go sour. Many of the anxious folks in the crowd (many of them city employees) wished to speak to the council before they went into closed session but were denied by the mayor. As they walked into the closed session chambers the crowd began to grumble, some of them saying out loud "...what about the BROWN ACT..." Then councilwoman Annette Smith turned and leaned into the microphone, furtherly supporting the mayors decision in denying the people their opines. "This is a performance evaluation", before they left into closed session. A few days go by after the meeting and a political watchdog group notified the city that they had violated the Brown Act and broken the law for not allowing the public to speak before the meeting.

#9 Crash Landing no.1

Stockton flight instructor Rick Tutt begins to diagnose the problem that caused the engine on this Piper Malibu passenger plane to fail. The single prop airplane was on its way to the Tracy airport before it crash landed in a field by a farm in Vernalis. The reason why this one is titled #1 is because about a month later, another single prop plane crash landed, that one into a waste water treatment pond.

#10 Gerry Kamilos and Patricia Snoke at the Crows Landing Air Base

When photographing the ground penetrating radar search for a lost cemetery at the Crows Landing air facility, Gerry Kamilos the developer in charge of the proposed West Park project, showed up to check on the progress. I had no idea that he would show up, but as I recognized him driving up I began to position myself for photographs. This photo is symbolic in so many ways, developer Kamilos (center) with Deputy Executive Officer in Stanislaus County's Chief Executive Office, Keith Boggs (left), standing next to Gustine's Patricia Snoke on the completely opposite end of the spectrum. Snoke also had shown up to check on the progress of the g.p.r., a family member of hers was buried in the lost cemetery, she's the one who spearheaded this entire search when she brought the issue to light for consideration going into the West Park EIR (environmental impact report). Then of course, Kamilos is standing in the middle of thousands of acres of prime farmland, the additional 3,273 acres that he plans on converting from ag use to that of an inland port and train yard for the port of Oakland. It helped that this photo was taken while the vegetation was really green on the surrounding farmland, no fallow fields here, even the walnut orchard in the background was looking strong thick and healthy for the photo. Anytime you can frame a photo with its surroundings makes the image that much more interesting as was done with this one being framed from the top by the hanging overgrowth of the unkempt trees at this ghost town facility. And final notes on this photograph, Pat Snoke's hair is glowing as it's back lit by the sun, giving almost a kind of halo effect.

#12 Civil War re-enactments at Knights Ferry

I had never been to one of these, but am glad I did. It was tons of fun, I followed the Reynolds' family from Patterson around a bit during the event which lasts a few days. At designated times during the day, the war ready troops line up and perform what a civil war battle may have been like. The two battling parties blasted gunpowder at each other across the Stanislaus River with the historic covered bridge nearby. Costumes and authenticity, it all made for some pretty impressive images, which I gave a little bit of a rustic look in photoshop.

#13 Grayson's Moses Alvarado shot dead at age 19

The murderer(s) of Moses Alvarado have yet to be apprehended in this unsolved mystery that occurred March 16th of this year in a remote section of the San Joaquin River north of Grayson leaving these two family members to console one another, while Sheriff's deputies stand nearby trying to work on any leads in the case.

Police surrounded a vehicle at Grayson's One Stop Market where the vehicle that supposedly carried Alvarado from the river, was left behind.

#14 Low Snow in Del Puerto and San Antone Valley

Last year we had two really low snow days, one in early March, and one in December. I love photographing the snow especially so close to home. But the low snow in December came at a particularly difficult time. A day before the phenomenon, friend and Del Puerto Canyon resident Dave Currier had unexpectedly died. I hadn't been up to the canyon until going up there to inspect the snowfall and I couldn't help but think of Dave as I drove up the road, it was almost as if he left a small reminder of his presence with the blissfully beautiful snowfall that graced his and wife Bj's hilltop home that day.

#19 Power Team display

The Power Team came to town and Creekside Middle School in August, to perform their inspirational, motivational, downright fun strength show. They broke stacks of bricks, splintered wooden planks, bent the occasional cooking pan, and oh yeah... exploded cans of soda all over the unsuspecting crowd!

#20 A blustery day

Late October brought some windy days, toppling tree branches, uprooting tumbleweeds, and this huge tree in front of a house on Spooner Ct. When I got to the scene, city workers were inspecting the problem, which consisted in the tree blocking the whole street. This phenomena attracted all of the neighborhood children, as they played on and in the felled tree until city workers dismembered it and shredded it.

#22 City Manager's Smile

While it may seem like less of a smile than that of the Mona Lisa's, but I consider this expression from city manager Cleve Morris to be one of relief, as he glances at the huge crowd that amassed in his support during the "performance evaluation" mentioned earlier.

#25 At the scene of the Grayson shooting

While much of the drama was unfolding at Grayson's One Stop Market where 19 year old Moses Alvarado was dropped off, the Sheriff's were busy at the scene by the San Joaquin River where Alvarado was fatally shot, looking for clues, trying to piece this case together. This photo is actually two images taken next to each other at the same time, only to be stitched together later in photoshop. This allows me to retain more detail in the image by not having to zoom out or get farther away from the scene to take the photo.

#26 Fig avenue house fire's flames

Being able to see fire chief Steve Hall through the heat waves mottling the depiction of him was unpredicted yet welcomed, especially knowing that each firefighter that is shown in the paper gets fined(usually with pizza or icecream), hopefully this gave him a little slack since it's a little hard to tell who it actually is (although I could tell).

#27 Patterson City Council

Patterson Mayor Becky Campo explains to council member Dominic Farinha why farmland mitigation should be excluded from the city's latest industrial annexation at Tuesday's council meeting, as they voted 4-1 not to save farmland elsewhere. Strong expressions from the councillors made for this interesting photo.

#31 Skateboarder Stabbed

A skateboarder who tried to break up a fight was stabbed on the street intersection of Las Palmas and Pipit dr. near the Save Mart parking lot June 27th. Droplets of blood including these wrangled sun glasses could be found on the ground at the scene.

#32 Grainger Ground breaking Ceremony

I'm not one for ribbon cuttings or official ceremonies, so I took this shot from one end of the new Grainger distribution center site with earth movers and churned soil in the foreground, while the officials pulled out the golden shovels and performed their own ground breaking in the tent beyond.

#33 Firefighters at the Vernalis River Fire

These two firefighters didn't seem to care that the large tree behind them was going up in flames, but I knew some thing was about to happen, the wind was beginning to pick up. Sure enough, flames from this very picture, shot into the sky and spread spot fires that grew and spread rapidly on their own. After the flames were subdued, the firefighter at right said "I thought that was going to happen" as he walked by me. I told him that I saw it happening too.

#34 Wal-Mart's big wall

For the stories that the Irrigator did on Wal-Mart, I was sent to some of the surrounding supercenters for photos. I waited outside of this one for a bit until everyone came into the composition that I kind of had in mind. Cluttered, chaotic, some of the words that come to mind when I see this picture and think of Wal-Mart. I feel that this picture does no justice to chaotic and cluttered, as some of the other instances in Wal-Mart lore that I have witnessed.

Not just Patterson's Centennial

While pursuing my never ending quest to further understand the inner workings of this ever changing, always interesting Earth of ours, I stumbled across the small crumbling ghost town of Rhyolite Nevada. Gold was first discovered near this site in late 1904, which sparked a gold rush and attracted thousands of prospectors, developers and other such entrepreneurs that flocked to make their fortunes. By 1907 Rhyolite provided electric lights, water mains, telephones, newspapers, a hospital, a school, an opera house, a stock exchange and a population near 5,000.I was at one of the Patterson Library's bi annual book sales when I came across this book titled "Ghost Towns of the West" published by the editors of Sunset Magazine in the 1970's. Though it was kind of old, the thick hardcover book was full of really interesting images of ghost towns in every state west of the Rockies. That was the first time I had seen Rhyolite, and an image of the Cook Bank (above) was portrayed in a night photo that I was determined to photograph for myself. So I paid $1 for the book and made off like a bandit with new found loot to sift through. (Just a note, the library still has a copy of this book on their shelf)
The first destination of a week and a half long Eastern Sierras and Basin and Range road trip, led me over the Tioga pass, down hwy 395, into Nevada, and eventually into Rhyolite in the middle of the night. So I busted out with the camera gear, portable studio lights, tripod, shutter release cable, and began illuminating what was left of what used to be the fanciest, largest building in the booming gold mining community that boasted 10,000 residents by 1910. However, the nearby ore producing mines were already nearing depletion and folks began abandoning Rhyolite which was left at a population of less than 1,000 by 1911. Residents moved entire buildings to nearby Beatty Nevada, sold portions of the Cook Bank Building, and even demolished portions of the bank to extract the gold that lie in it's walls (hence it's missing sides).
Rhyolite circa 1908

Interesting Architecture

As I went to bed in the nearby desert that night, I couldn't help but think about the city of Patterson and how both were similarly founded around the same time at the turn of the last century. The desert sunlight doesn't let you stay in your tent too long, so after breaking camp I returned to Rhyolite to see what the daylight would bring.

Returning to the Cook Bank ruins (above left) revealed a very familiar architectural style visible off in the distance, and I instantly recognized it as turn of the century Mission Revival architecture, very similar to the style used in Patterson's Center Building and Del Puerto Hotel, built and designed in 1910 by famed Southern California architect Arthur Burnett Benton.

Could Benton have designed the Las Vegas and Tonopah railroad station at Rhyolite the year prior in 1909?

If you look past the large Joshua tree and other desert vegetation, it's easy to see the uncanny resemblances of the railroad station and Patterson's Center Building.

After a little research and a call to a historian in Beatty Nv, it was revealed that the two buildings were not designed by the same architect, but the two designers may have been colleagues at one point prior.

Either way, the abandoned railroad station kept me thinking about these two towns that were both founded around the same time in the early 1900's, and why one is still functioning, and the other is, well... a ghost town.

And the answer is quite simple. While both communities were built on working the earth, the gold mines in Rhyolite soon dried up about the time when the Patterson family was investing in agriculture and developing the world's first successful lift irrigation system, which is still in use today.

So whether today's residents/leaders of the city of Patterson want to admit it or not, we all owe our thanks to this thriving, ag producing, city of ours to the sound entrepreneurial decisions of T.W. Patterson and his investment in some of the best agricultural land around.

So for very good reason I've become very vocal (to the dismay of some) about any plans for the future of our city that don't involve preserving the agricultural heritage that the Patterson's worked so hard to create. Over the past 15 years here in Patterson, it's become quite apparent that our leaders wished to push the city in a new direction, a path that many other growing communities chose to go down. One that involved catering to a different economy... the Bay Area commuter economy. And while I appreciate the difference in overall homogeneity that the newcomers have brought to our community, I don't appreciate the poor planning that went into designing where they would reside.

Driving through a maze of row after row of single family dwelling units, many of which now sit empty and disheveled or vandalized, or sit on some of the best farmland in the world, isn't quite the way I envisioned preserving the city's agricultural longevity. T.W. probably would have been happier knowing his plan was preserved, than having his likeness placed on a plaque on City Hall.

If Rhyolite's economy was based on a more sustainable economy like Patterson's was, there still might be people around to celebrate Rhyolite's centennial.

Here's an interesting dwelling unit in Rhyolite that still remains. Built in 1906, a house made out of 30,000 beer and liquor bottles rightly named, the "Bottle House".

Another Farming Communities' Centennial

I spent alot of time growing up as the son of migrant farm workers, and although I was born in Patterson, a good portion of each year was spent living in Southern California's Imperial Valley. I recently went back there to visit my grandmother and some other family members there this last Summer.

Highs were around 107 degrees, remarkably quite cool for August. While driving through the city of Brawley at mid day with my windows down, I recognized a sign up on the marquee of the city's dilapidated Fox theater.

Brawley was also in the midst of celebrating their centennial.

Brawley Theater photos courtesy Esther Duarte

While the Imperial Valley cities that I spent so much time growing up in, like Brawley, hold a very special place in my heart, it's easy to see that their downtown has deteriorated since I last remembered. Many of their storefronts sit empty, their theater now sits boarded up, with only the silhouettes of those that may have once performed there to grace the balcony windows.

Many here in Patterson, Ca may complain about the lack of shopping opportunities or things to do, but after 100 years, I think we're still better off than many places. And while we may not quite have our downtown theater, at least it doesn't sit unused.

Some parting images from Rhyolite

Here's some more in case you didn't get enough of the deserted mining town of Rhyolite Nv. Those that still frequent the area have instilled a sort of open air installation artistry, called the Goldwell Open Air Museum. These art pieces, some towering as high as 25 ft, are quite striking as you come up to them... anyways I'll let you see and decide for yourself.

It's Fair time... you know what that means!

That it's time for the annual Stanislaus County Fair Destruction Derby! I've commented before on assignments that I look forward to every year, and the fair, including the destruction derby, is probably my favorite.

I mean seriously folks, this is American entertainment at its finest! Where else can you go to legally watch full grown men and women bash into each other with their vehicles? It may seem like a pointless pass time, but this event only comes around once a year and many, many people, including alot of locals, look forward to it every year.... including myself. Every year that I attend, my love for the quirky sport grows with every crunch of every car, with the sounds of the finely tuned engines blowing, or hearing the hiss of a busted radiator or blown tire... music to my ears.

Well above is a sequence of photos taken from last years demo derby, I had never witnessed a car being flipped during the event, and it actually happened twice, this second time the car's engine burst into flames. It's hard to see in the small frames, but the crowd in the background is going wild.

Above is one of my friends Nic Gustafson, standing atop what's left of a 1973 Pontiac. He's waiting for one of the tow trucks to come pull him out of the arena and back to the pits after competing in his heat. Believe it or not, his accordion car was beat back into place by his pit crew and was back out on the arena for the consolation round during last year's derby.

The woman in the photo above is also waiting for a tow truck, her car didn't get much play due to an engine failure. Photo was taken with a Pentax 6x7, ISO 100 and looks great as a black and white print.

Flames shooting from an engine during the derby a couple years ago.

Above is Nic's "accordion" Pontiac being smashed by Westley's Keith Yamamoto in the Red #5 car behind him. You can see why I call it an accordion, the whole rear 4 feet of the car were missing after this final consolation heat during last year's derby.

Above is Patterson's Kyle Guido in the #69 Lincoln Town Car, mashing into Westley's Jason Yamamoto in his vehicle during a destruction derby two years ago, from what I remember, Guido did pretty good overall.

Above, Jason Yamamoto waves the red caution flag from his car after a fire breaks out in his cab filling it with smoke.

Above is Patterson's Brent Kaiser taking a hard blow from a car during the derby a couple years ago. Brent will be driving again this year as well.

Above is Patterson's Matthew Hollowell getting hung up on one of the K rails that surrounds the arena. He had a little radiator damage and damage to the points system that which controls the spark to the engine, but the same car above has been refurbished with electronic ignition, new paint, and is ready to go for his wife Amy to drive during Tuesday August 4th's Demo Derby.

Above, rural Patterson's Jake "trap shooter" Smith and his pit crew try to get his car started and into the consolation round after the car died on the way into the arena. They couldn't get it started and had to push it out of the way. I'm not sure if Smith is competing again this year or not, but I'd like to see him out there make more of a run this time around.
So getting the cars ready to go and driving them is half the fun. Putting them back together in a limited amount of time to get them ready for the next round is the other half. Above, Jason Yamamoto's car is being worked on by his pit crew... cut the fenders off in the back, work to get the engine running up front, and making sure that the fire won't happen again inside the cab while the rest of the derby pit madness goes on behind them. This shot was taken a couple years ago.

Above, rural Patterson's Marty Barbaste cuts the fenders off of Brent Kaiser's car after his first heat last year. Cutting the fenders off allows the tires of the car to move a little more freely, especially after the cars have been smashed in a little.

Above, Westley's Bob Yamamoto, welds the rear end of Jason's derby car together, giving him more traction in the rear wheels when driving in the arena.

Above a separate pit crew uses a handheld circular saw to cut away a trunk that is getting in the way sending sparks everywhere. The pit is always exciting to be around during the derby, there is always something going on, sledgehammers flying, sparks and hot embers getting stuck down your shirt or clothes... it's a complete auto repair shop, that has to get cars working in a matter of minutes rather than days, it really puts the pressure on.

Well, here's this year's competitors, above is Amy Whitman-Holloway, and Matthew Holloway standing next to their vehicles. The white car is an '84 Cadillac, and the black one is Matt's '78 Grand Marquis from last year. Unlike the other derby entrants, these two will be competing during Tuesday's event not Monday's Traditional Turmoil Destruction Derby event. Both are competitive, but the second day is a little easier for spectators to get tickets to and includes a derby class just for women, as well as a heat for more modern cars, and a heat for trucks and Suv's as well. I'm looking forward to the Metal Mayhem derby event just as much as Monday night's event.

Above Kyle Guido and some helpers from Ken Herger's Elm avenue shop (Thomas Dodd and Sergio Ceravantes) get to work on Guido's '71 Chrysler New Yorker. With less than a week before the Monday night event, the crew is still working to get the engine running, but under the direction of Ken Herger, I know that things will be running smoothly come competition time.

Above, Jason Yamamoto shows me the engine of his '69 Chrysler Imperial. His brother Keith is running an identical car posted at the bottom of the post, however this will be the last year that the county fair allows Imperials in the derby because the vehicles have proven themselves to be superior to others in the derby class.
Running with the Y&L Farms crew from out of Westley this year is going to be Johnny Azevedo's Chrysler Newport, the crew just started on this entry but will have it running by next Monday's event time.

There's Keith Yamamoto's car, minus the derby paint and numbers, a stout '69 Chrysler Imperial. Good luck to all of this year's competitors.