It’s like out West, only without the 5,000 mile drive

With a dead story and only a day and a half to shoot, I wanted to leave Evarts, Ky with more than what I came with.

I could be sentimental and say, “Oh but I met so many new friends and had fun and it was a great learning experience.” But really, I wanted good pictures. Workshops always provide you with all of these. Connections. Good times. Learning experiences. Portfolio pictures.

I didn’t have time to shoot much of a story, but in between being honked at on the side of the road for standing at memorials, I shot landscapes. Some of which are really nice and telling of the area, others are just OK.

Shooting landscapes reminded me of this summer. It made miss just driving, not knowing where I was going to sleep. Evarts, a place so different than the West, caused me to miss California and its diverse land. It made me miss Elliott and wish he had been able to be in Evarts not only to shoot good pictures, but to hang out with me and Ed when we’re not having to make newspapers. Staying in an unfamiliar house for the sake of photographs made me miss Martha.

I will probably never have another entire summer to throw away for the sake of pictures. These trips when I get a full week to just think about them are some of my favorite times each semester. I hope, with Jim’s help, we can keep building these workshops and having great experiences.

This is the main cemetery from Ages through Evarts. There are other small cemeteries, but this is pretty much it. In my lifetime, I’ve had 6 family members buried here, including Clyde Wilson and most recently, my grandfather, JC Luttrell.

Good light and old, pretty houses make for good pictures.

I am going to reshoot this sometime. I need to be closer to downtown, or get a hold of a 300 with an extender. There are two steeples right in this area, and I think if I moved around I could probably frame this up a lot better.

I think my dad called this area Sunshine. I told him there’s nothing there but a few playing fields, but he said it used to be a community.

It was in the back of my mind

When my story fell through I went to one I had been plotting in the back of my mind.

Roadside memorials are visible all across the country. It’s something I have always thought would be cool to shoot, and is a great story to tell, but had never done it. When my nursing story fell through because of a blackout to the media, I immediately knew what I would pick up.

I only had two days left, so I had to have something that I could do quickly. I think these images are a nice start to my project. I’ll try to keep you up to date along the way.

Coal country

We just spent a week in what used to be known as bloody Harlan. The county has an incredible history, and if you don’t know about it you should check it out. There is a great documentary about it called Harlan County USA.

The one with the chickens

I was asking a fellow on the side of the road on a little past Evarts where his junkyard was.

“So you’re in Ages?” I said.

“Yeah,” he whipped while strapping his tow straps to the front of the car in the ditch.

“Where in Ages?” I asked, as if he should have known from the first question, that I was asking where he was located.

“It’s the one with all of the chickens,” he said.

Man, that’s awesome. If he had a business card, I would hope that would be a part of the directions, or even the street address.

And now I’m screwed

Today I bailed.

I’ve been busting my tail to get nurses to talk to me about their personal life, and today an official blackout to the media came from the Union and ARH. I made my calls, and after either no one answering or calling back, I realized I didn’t have a picture story.

So I drove through Evarts trying to figure out what I was going to do. How would I put together a picture story in two days?

I wasn’t really able to with this kid. But I did make three nice frames of him in his home. Then I had an idea. A project I’ve been thinking of for a while now.

I’ll bring it to the stage later.