One more trip to Chucktown

 Photography  5 Responses »
Mar 262010
 

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Today, I head south again, this time to pick up my few remaining items. I’ll rent a truck, drive back up, unload, and that will be that.

This week has flown by. I’m sure that a lot of this has to do with the fact that I landed in a job that I can see is going to be fast paced and demanding. When I walked in the door, I had already had 3 tasks assigned to me. They joked and said that they had wanted me to start on the 15th, so I was already a week behind. Further, I could only use the moniker “The New Guy” for one week, because after that, I should know what I’m doing! I’m happy to say that I have completed two of them. The third, well that’s going to take some time and some thought.

Not much else to say about that. I’m still getting used to my new scenery. The trees are blossoming and spring is evident everywhere. It was nice not to have to drive 210 miles on Sunday …

 Posted by Paul at 12:00 am  Tagged with:

The final week

 Photography  11 Responses »
Mar 132010
 

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It’s Friday night, March 12, 2010. I’m sitting in our F.R.O.G room, or Finished Room Over Garage, or as we call it, the bonus room. Outside, to my left is a window; there’s a thunderstorm asserting itself out there with deep bass rumbles and an occasional light show causing shadows to drop around the room crazily. Even as a kid, I enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells of a thunderstorm. I most certainly still do.

To my right, Hobbs is lying on the couch next to me, sleeping. I can barely resist rubbing that special place behind the ears. I give in to the impulse. He doesn’t mind at all for some reason. He simply moves a little closer to make it more convenient for “me”.

Next week will be my last week in Charleston. I’ve been thinking of how to say goodbye, after all, it has been home for 19 months or so. During that time I’ve established a number of friendships, found a great guitar teacher, and had a good time overall. I’d thought of going around to many different places and taking photos for the last time and then assembling a small PDF book, but honestly, I’m not in the mood for it. Should I decide to make a book, a slideshow, or some body of work, I have plenty of photos. Thousands. A few more won’t make a difference.

All of next week Vera will be in Dallas, Texas, Tony will be spending those nights at a friend’s house, Pedro is in Ohio, he’s moved there now, and I’ll be in Charleston, of course. So, what about Hobbs? I had two choices for my furry little friend:

1) Send him to the kennel for the week.

2) Take him with me for my final week.

Can you guess which option I chose? Yep, number 2. My furry little poop factory is coming to Charleston for my final week.

The only reason that I’ve not taken him often is because he has to wait so long between bathroom breaks that it wasn’t fair. I think that we might be able to make it to the beach again and chase some of those pesky seagulls now that I’m not so busy!

I need only to work, er, be present, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Those of us on “death row” have been working/attending very short days, so bathroom breaks won’t be an issue. We’ve been tasked with busy work: Looking up prices for computers, calling golf courses to see who could do a charity event, etc.

More than likely I’ll haul all of my clothes, my printer, laptop, guitar, etc on Friday or Saturday. I’ll leave the rest of the stuff, furniture, bed, dishes, etc, and come pick them up the next weekend. I plan to fly to Charleston, get a ride from one of my buds, get the rental truck, load it, then head on back up the road. That will be that, I think. Even though I’ll be coming back home, it still feels strange pulling up roots again.

I will be returning, for round 3, to Bank of America on Monday, March 22nd. On Thursday, yesterday, I received an e-mail telling me that I had internal interview on Friday at 10:00 AM. I had to turn it down. Too little, too late.

The dominoes continue to fall. Since the original 4 ended up on “death row” another 3 have joined. Of the 7, two have gotten jobs, myself and another, the others are still interviewing. I wish them the best of luck and am doing my best to help them find something in Charlotte. There’s precious little work in Charleston.

 Posted by Paul at 6:59 am  Tagged with: ,

Exploring something new

 Photography  11 Responses »
Jan 232010
 

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Leica M6 – Ilford HP5 – Rodinal 1:50

Within a few days of arriving in Charleston, I remember thinking: OMG! What is that smell? There must be a paper mill nearby. Sure enough, there was, right in the same neighborhood where I worked. Great! People who had worked in the area for some time assured me that I’d get used to. They assured me that I wouldn’t even notice after a while. Well, they didn’t say exactly how long that would be. I imagine, now, that it is on the order of years, as 18 months have passed and I can still smell it.

Perhaps, though, I only smell it now on the stronger days. I don’t seem to remember smelling it everyday, though, in the winter time the smell is less pungent because of the lower humidity and temperature, I suppose.

I’ve been looking for other, non beach, venues to shoot. Charleston has a few parks, but mostly tourist spots where you have to pay $25 or more to get in. I was looking for a spot a little less quaffed, tony, and more everyday folksy. I wanted a spot that would be a challenge to photograph or that I could take some time to explore and have to work at it a bit.

Since we moved to a different building this past summer, instead of being about 2 blocks away from the paper mill, I have to drive by it every day. It never ceases to capture my attention. It seems to have so many different looks depending on weather condition. I have a feeling that I’m going to find some good locations from which to photograph it, but not at the moment.

Right next to the plant there is a very small park. The park is just big enough to have a playground, small restroom facilities, a place to launch your boat, and, of course, a few trees. It is bounded on the western side by a busy street, a chain link fence and some oil processing company to the south, and a river occupies its north and eastern edges.

On the way home from work, I decided to stop by. What I noticed was that, for sure, the smell of the mill was strong. Also, no matter where you went in the park, you saw the mill. You can see it from the playground; it’s reflected in the water of the river. It’s everywhere.

At first, I tried to find some framing that didn’t include the plant, but was unsuccessful, save for shooting macros. So, decided to try to incorporate the plant into the shots. Add to this that highway I-526, a major Charleston highway, runs right above the park and it’s support structures can be seen in most any framing attempt.

Over the next few posts, I’ll be using photos from this park. As a matter of fact, the photo from yesterday’s post was taken in this same park. Also, strangely, I’m eager to return, despite the smell. It appears to be an interesting place to photograph.

 Posted by Paul at 8:42 am  Tagged with: , , ,
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