An entrance to a mechanic in the M.L.K. district of Charleston South Carolina.
An abandoned freezer truck at Bowen's Island Restaurant in South Carolina.
Here are some more links,
Doors (Picasa),
Side of the Road (A.R.T.).
I met Mr. Williams in Charleston. I loved his pink suit and his facial expressions.
Originally from New York, Mr. Williams told us that he met Muhamid Ali once and that Ali complemented him on his style.
Even his tongue matched his outfit.
Pink "Gator'" shoes as he called them.
Here are some more links,
Mr. Williams and His Pink Suit (Picasa),
Seersucker in Charleston SC (A.R.T).
Driving down 202 on Sunday, I spotted a man perched on his deck wearing a blaze orange hat and smoking a pipe. I pulled a U-Turn, turned on the hazard lights, grabbed my camera, and introduced myself as college student taking photos of central Maine. The old, weathered man was standoffish at first, but we eventually struck up a conversation about his 33 year career as a boiler operator at paper mill, his four years in the Marines during Vietnam, guns, his love for American made goods, and the state of Maine economy.
Butch and his Remington 16 gauge shotgun. He let me shoot it.
Butch goes through one pipe per year and smokes about a bag of tobacco per week.
He proudly showed off this one, commenting that it had, "recently been broken in."
Butch owns American made Toyota cars. When asked why he owned Toyotas, he responded, "Do you know where GM cars are made? Mexico. Do you know where Fords are made? Canada. My Toyotas are made in Texas and Tennessee, no wonder they (American Automakers) are going belly up."
I asked Butch if he was born and raised in Maine, he responded, "No I was born in Connecticut and moved to Maine when I was 4 weeks old." Butch swears by LL Bean.
My Posts this week focused on documenting Central Maine during these dismal economic times. The precipitous drop in the stock market and the evaporation of my personal savings prompted me to take my camera and go out in search of images that describe the state of the nation as found in central Maine. I wanted to focus on classic images that have endured hard times yet retain their aesthetic appeal and functionality.
I contrasted these enduring images of New England with burned down and deserted mobile homes and houses. These images are a stark reminder of how fast life can change and destroy the illusion of financial security and protection. (I suspect that some Mainers may have burned down their houses in an attempt to escape foreclosure). In many instances it’s cheaper to relocate to another dilapidated house or trailer than rebuild a burned down one. These burned down dwellings litter the Maine countryside like deserted cars in Mad Max or Escape from New York.
This burned down mobile home had a fresh replacement fifteen feet to the right of it. Could you imagine waking up every morning and seeing your old, burned down house?
These burned down dwellings also signify that this is no short-term problem. Many of these houses burned down years ago and won’t be fixed until real estate prices increase enough to make it feasible to tear them down and build something new. Like a broken glass on the kitchen floor, these skeletons will remind of us of the failure of the sub prime loans and the end of an American era.
This double wide trailer had a bank foreclosure notice and a for sale sign in the driveway.
Here are some more links,
Grim (Picasa),
Route 137 (Picasa),
Walk Outside (Picasa).
I left my job in New York in the summer of 2011 and moved into a camper. Since then, I have driven 100,000 miles around the west, surfing and camping. During the summer of 2014, I set up a home base in the Columbia River Gorge. These are some of my stories and photos.
