The Riverside Citrus Industry

An almost forgotten still life test from a few years ago, citrus fruits often become a still life subject for me growing up in Riverside, CA, a city that launched the Southern California citrus industry.

Growing up in Riverside, CA, there was no missing the impact of the citrus industry on the culture of the city itself. If the annual Orange Blossom Festival wasn’t enough, you couldn’t miss the small orange groves that dotted most residential neighborhoods (before the real estate boom/bubble of the early 2000’s dug out the orange trees to make room for more houses).

I came across this image when attempting to catalog the approximately 32,478 images from one of several hard drives where I digitally hoard my work. After scrolling through years and years worth of product photography, commercial still life tests, family snapshots and mobile camera back-ups, I ran across this little studio test that I think I may have entirely designed around that weird hanging candle thing in the background.

I don’t love this image, but it does bring to mind memories of my childhood that was shaped in part by what was left of the citrus industry in Riverside. When I was a child, my mom worked in the front office of a citrus packing house, where I would occasionally get to peak through the door where oranges would rush around on conveyer belts and cascade into crates that would load onto trucks and head off to their final destination.

For the city of Riverside it is a history that is celebrated through art, events, and those of us that have memories of being directly impacted by the fruits of those two original naval orange treess Eliza Tibbetts planted in Riverside back in 1873.

For more on the history of the Riverside citrus industry, check these links:

History of the City of Riverside
Parent Naval Orange Tree in Riverside
A Cultural Tale of California’s Citrus Industry - YouTube
Hidden Histories Behind California’s Citrus Industry