rucksack

I once had someone very close to me say I was a rucksack wanderer. That always stuck with me. It is true I have been to many places both far and wide. From Jungles and Deserts to mountains and cities. I have been lucky to see what I have seen. This was all on my mind today as I drove around lost in the foothills of butte county. While driving my siblings to Sacramento the other week, I noticed how I loved the golden fields around hwy 99, in particular the power lines sprawling out along the landscape. I made note of it and drove out there today to shoot, and think, and realize that I need some serious repairs to my camera body.

It was a hot one, about 110 degrees today, which is a bummer since I have no AC in my car. Not to mention, I haven’t gotten paid so I was nudging a little closer to the e than I would like, but I felt a twinge of reckless abandon and headed for the hills. I really do love some of the sprawling vistas out that way. Unfortunately I certainly didn’t dress the part, in cutoffs where the brush is thorny and full of pests. But I did get some good shots, and now I know the area a little better after getting lost (a rare occurrence for me). I began thinking about the road, how I have traveled on it. There exist a great tradition of great American road photography, documenting the quirky little towns and beautiful nature mostly shot by younger grad students on the heels of graduation and a need to participate in the adventure of reckless abandon. But there do not seem to be many people who celebrate the road itself. The images I want to make deal with the road themselves. The thing that actually gets us from here to there, the thing that our oil consuming culture is built quite literally upon, The thing that I have traveled below my feet for almost a decade now. The road has many faces, I want to make images that highlight this unsung hero. This might be a next project of mine, I have already started with the poles, I think they are an extension of this road idea. Now, I just need to get some capital…



I also noticed today that there is something for sure wrong with my D60 body. It’s the only working body I currently have, curses to Duncan, who lost my manual Nikon (that stuff is not cheap)! I spent the morning cleaning lenses and filters before going out, and upon review of a few of the higher aperture settings, I am getting some grime on the prints. They aren’t terrible, but hey are a nuisance to wisp away with Photoshop, also a waste of time. I need to take the body in to be serviced, since it never has been in the 3 years I’ve had it, and it has definitely had some rough and tumble moments (DNC anyone)? But really what I want is a new body, a D300 would be nice, and maybe a gorilla grip tripod, my birthday is right around the corner…

I start shooting schools on my own on Thursday; I hope the kids don’t eat me alive.