This gas pump no longer pumps, hasn't for a while. A symbol of....? I'm not sure what - power that was, but is no more, at least here at this station.
And a big blank arrow, pointing... but to where or what?
It all started when i came upon this abandoned store, if memory serves me halfway well, in a place called Death Valley Junction, Ca. Rtes 127 & 190. These frames were taken over 20 years ago, i have been by more recently, and 'progress' has caught up with it. The abandoned gas station was an active/open store of some sort catering to tourists. I didn't even go inside.
Here's the contact sheet from the first visit:
I got sooo much mileage out of this, it was one lucky prescient discovery.
As for the horse shoes on the antler? I'll get back to that later.
I did numerous 'sketches' & studies of what to do with the gas pump and the direction sign:
Ended up doing this darkroom print:
The dodging/blending is very simple on this one:
Dodge out both top and bottom, starting about 1/3 way from top or bottom, ending
beyond the halfway point.
I've always found that overlapping 2 images more than i might think would work actually works the best.
Then I hand colored it, and added a bit of digital saturation.
So maybe the image asks a question of the viewer - when you are out of gas, and got no clear direction, whaddaya do then? Punt? Give up and rollover dead?? I hope not - snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, turn a lemon into lemonade.
This not the obvious take away from this image = 'you are out of gas, and got no clear direction'.
But the best response is: Life hands you a lemon? Make lemonade!
In the very so often 'whatever catches my eye' file:
We live in times of 'alternate facts', a president that is IMHO spinning out disgraceful behavior on a daily basis. I keep replaying this track in my mind, regularly.
Orig. studio recording:
Gimme Shelter
"Oooo storm is threatenin' my very life today,
If i don't get some shelter yeah, i'm gonna fade away"
