Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/03/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Thanks for the story and the photos, Adam. Wonderful and poignant. I too cycle, and I too struggle to mix cycling and photography, at least when training. I do keep a Panasonic LX3 in my handlebar bag, just in case I see something sufficiently interesting to compel me to stop, or to take a snap when I am stopped for a break anyway. Cheers, Nathan Nathan Wajsman Alicante, Spain http://www.frozenlight.eu http://www.greatpix.eu http://www.nathanfoto.com PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ YNWA On Mar 26, 2012, at 2:35 AM, Adam Bridge wrote: > I didn't know Terry Lee Tanner. I stopped here, along County Road 99, > because some years ago at a Santa Fe Workshop class titled "Seeing Light" > one of the students had talked about doing a project on the roadside > memorials she had seen around Santa Fe. She had done something else. But > the idea remained. Later, as I took up cycling, I found myself riding in > the rural Central Valley of California where there seem to be many of > these small, hand made memorials. One day, I thought, I should do > something with them. But when I ride there is always a push to simply . . > . well . . . GO. Photography and cycling didn't seem to blend well. I > didn't want to risk my "good" cameras on my bike. I didn't want to take > cruddy pictures. A new camera, a small Sony NEX-7 and a small handlebar > bag, solved the problem of what to take. A week of very constrained > calorie intake took care of the need for speed. So I stopped as I passed > this cross with its wreath and brass nameplate. > > I was glad to stop, actually. The road was very busy, there was no > shoulder to the right of the white fog line, just gravel. Some of the cars > that passed were awfully close, one of them driven by a guy on his cell > phone. So I carefully laid my bike down onto the gravel berm took out the > camera and began to explore what I was seeing. This was made more complex > by having to learn a new camera. > > As I sat on the gravel I realized a car had come to stop behind me on the > other side of the road. A young woman got out, crossed the road. "He was > my father," she said. We talked. She told me that Terry had been riding on > an August evening about 9:45. He was riding in the middle of the lane so > he could be seen. He had a headlight but not a rear reflector. His > daughter thought he had had one. A driver headed south didn't see him > until the last moment. He died on scene. > > She told this as she sat beside me along side the road. Not crying, but > clearly glad to share his story with someone. "I need to seal the wood > better," she said. "The sun is so hard on it." > > She straightened the wreath, thanked me for stopping, and returned to her > car. I put away the camera and rode south into west Davis. Thoughtful. > Suddenly the idea for the project was even more human. I will not see > these memorials in the same way. I will work to make my images reflect > something of the care their creators put into them. They are keeping > memories alive there where dreams died. > > <http://adam-bridge.smugmug.com/gallery/22108054_6S9pDD#!i=1764588410&k=n9WSQ3X> > > Adam Bridge > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >