Work boots

Back at the beginning of March I took a construction job to keep the cash flowing in.  Here is a pic 3 months into my first construction job, and my Made-in-USA Thorogood steel toe boots look like I’ve had them for years and for the most part were very comfortable.

Unfortunately there was a seam where the upper met the toe box that just did not break in, and eventually I had to retire them in favor of a pair of Danner alloy toe boots just to survive the last two weeks I worked there.  I don’t miss the job and might go back to it in a traveling position (the money is too good), but I will say it helped me in other ways: I experienced a new way of life, picked up a bit of Spanish along the way, and dropped at least 20lbs.

A rapidly vanishing America

As I write this I’m staying in a vacation rental in Fountain, CO, on an old 1915 farmstead that is a holdout in what seems like ever-faster-paced life all around it.  Across the street the suburbs keep encroaching on what used to be arable farmland.  Now it’s just fodder for the land developers and the constant flood of people from California.

It kind of reminds me of this article that I read recently, with changing tastes and demands just contributing to ever-more waste and unsustainability in the name of “morals.”  We’ve known since the time of Malthus that there would be a breaking point but when will that be?  What I want to do more than anything is get away from all the crowds, the influx of the unwashed masses, live somewhere unspoiled by Man.  The problem is, I would be just the tip of a new spearhead and then slowly yet another landscape would be ruined eventually.

Jeep tours 2018, Super 8 edition, Part I

This is the remainder of the Super 8 film that I shot, this was Summer of 2018 (plus one roll from last Summer) and I haven’t really used my movie cameras much since.  Processed by Spectra Film and Video, scanning by Nicholas Coyle Film and Video.

A collection of coworkers.

Old cars, etc.

Because again, in Colorado and the Southwest, there are a lot of them.

The first is my pastor’s old Chevy that he’s been working on for the last few years.  The others are at the place I was recently staying, the owner is a big fan of vintage Willys and Plymouth vehicles.  There will probably be plenty more on this in the future.  I hope Jim Grey approves!

TBD

To be developed: ~40+ rolls of Tri-X (shot starting May 2020), 16 sheets 4×5 film (shot March 2020 or so), a couple rolls of E6 (shot October 2020), some random stuff I haven’t sent out yet like Rerapan (shot sometime in 2020), plus about 16 rolls of Super 8, which I did in fact send off recently (shot back in Summer 2018).

Much to get to.  The black & white will take the longest because it’s pretty expensive unless I do it myself and I need to wait to get back into the school darkroom…