Very Large Array, south central New Mexico

Why this photo? Why the hell not?

It was taken in the rain with my Nikon digital camera (D70s). It features some of the satellite disks that make up the Very Large Array in New Mexico. I shot it on the way back from the California coast in the summer of 2006. The rain was omnipresent, at least for me: It rained the entire time I was in New Mexico, resulting in flash floods and a sodden J. Daniel. My leathers (and Mo Turncycle, the BMW R1100s) didn't dry out until central Texas rolled under my wheels.

Homeless chair, Chattanooga TN

I don't remember why I titled this photo "Homeless chair". It could be one of two things: It's a chair for the homeless, or it's a chair without a home.

Doesn't really matter.

This broken chair was outside an abandoned tannery building on south Broad Street (or thereabouts) in Chattanooga, Tennessee, my hometown. The building had obviously been empty for some time. My friend Jonathan and I crawled up on the roof of the building and looked through the skylights on the day this photo was taken, and the condition of the structure made it apparent that it hadn't seen human habitation (legally, at least) in years. There was evidence of squatters, however.

Me -- I just like the chair. Empty chairs are some of my favorite things. You never know when the music will suddenly stop.

Portrait of a boat

These are some of my favorite photos of boats I've known. Two of them are of the M/V Bearcat, a Tennessee River tow boat on which I was a deckhand for about eight months in, what was it, the year 2000. The other two are of a small ship docked at the port of New Orleans in July of 1999; I took them while visiting New Orleans for the first time with my friend Steven.

I challenge anyone but Steven and My Buddy Bradley (who worked on the Bearcat with me) to know which two belong to the Bearcat and which two belong to the other boat.

Why are these four photos together under a single heading -- reading, in part, "a boat"? Because they fit together, despite the fact that they were shot in different states, of different boats, with different cameras, etc. They are similarly graphic in nature and I simply like them together. You're welcome to argue the point with me, should you choose to do so -- and assuming there's a "you" reading this.