j e z b l o g

The Hog Rock Fry Cook and Pot Washer : Ontario : Oregon

2013-05-18T12:18:59Z

The Hog Rock Fry Cook and Pot Washer : Ontario : Oregon
So Matt who is in charge of all things numbers and organization tells me I have done 6000 miles in the Beast Car since we left Atlanta.

Yeah.... the Beast has rolled through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and now Colorado.......... well strictly we are still in Colorado ......... its midnight we are still rolling......... Matt is driving I am one finger typing in the passenger seat ........... hehehe......... hang on update......... We are running alongside a massive goods train that is making that classic American train wailing sound as it moves slowly in the night ......... Matt tells me we are almost in Kansas.........

One of the biggest privileges and most interesting aspects of my life and this trip in particular is to drop in on and take an intensive peek at the lives of others in their homes and workplaces ....... we have met some great people along the way........... What I like is not so much the tourist view ........ More the reportage photographer's view of 'real life'.

This picture above shows fry cook JT and waitress and pot washer Kimberly working massively rapidly and efficiently during the Sunday morning breakfast rush at The Hog Rock Cafe in Ontario Oregon....... a classic old style diner.

They were both so fast and deliberate ....... every movement is made so much faster than your average person would move ........... when I mentioned this JT laughed he said at college he had watched a sociology film about the funeral industry .......... he was shocked by how slowly people in the funeral business physically moved around.

The funeral business might favor those who move very respectfully and very slowly but the kitchen of a classic diner needs people that move fast and really get things done in a hurry. ....... and these guys were moving fast and furious.... turning out the orders as they came flying in.

They were so pressured to do all their work on time for their hungry customers ...... but they were both very friendly and accommodating to me and Matt ............ Like I say I love to be afforded the opportunity to drop in on such a busy scene and be allowed just to shoot and hangout. These guys seemed happy to be accommodating without any drama. Travis the owner of the Diner was also just as open and inviting. He seemed genuinely delighted in our interest in his restaurant.

If you are in Eastern Oregon anytime you should drop in on this upbeat happy crew at The Hog Rock Cafe for a fine diner breakfast or indeed fine diner food anytime :-))))))

Update........ We are now in Dodge City Kansas now.............

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com

School Chairs : Abandoned Navajo Trading Post : Monument Valley

2013-05-16T03:33:10Z

School Chairs : Abandoned Navajo Trading Post : Monument Valley
I made this picture in a currently abandoned trading post for the people of the Navajo Nation on the road way into Monument Valley just beyond the little settlement of Mexican Hat ......... Inside this very rudimentary hut were these two chairs and this book 'Steps To Christ' ......... Call me crazy but I found the 'how to' become a Christian book a tiny bit depressing ........ I am of course crazy ....... But I think if I were Navajo I would stay with the traditional beliefs and culture of my people, especially if I still lived in this amazing land. A place that still.. even to me .. echoes with the call of the Navajo ancestors.

Interestingly, I talked to a very nice Catholic missionary living and working on the reservation for the Sioux Nation earlier on this trip ... a couple of weeks back now... up in South Dakota. She told me Catholic members of the Sioux Nation to some extent combined their traditional culture with their adopted Catholicism ...... She said this was especially obvious at funerals. So I guess that is likely the same for Navajo Christians.

Matt likes to go on ..... and on....... about rattle snakes all the time ( because he knows I am totally freaked out by all snakes ) . He likes nothing more than reading out loud bits off the web about the relative aggressiveness of the Diamond Back and the Great Basin rattler blah blah ............ the likelihood of a bite being fatal ........ or the human having to have a linb amputated after being bitten ......... how they only strike after you release your foot if you tread on them? ( That can't be right surely ??? ) ........ anyway you can imagine he was loving this hut above ......... careful I wouldn't go in there..... perfect Sidewinder territory....... most aggressive of the 5 species (and 2 subspecies) of Utah dwelling rattle snakes ................ blah blah........

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com

Jez Coulson World Land Speed Record : Bonneville Salt Flats Speed Track : Utah

2013-05-14T12:04:04Z

Jez Coulson World Land Speed Record : Bonneville Salt Flats Speed Track : Utah
Matt has flown in to help me out on the US mega tour ......... to stop me goin completely nutz alone on the road ............ in fact he turned up just in time to shoot this picture of me .......... just before we attempted the world land speed record for a red Mustang with Union Jack plates.

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com

High School Rodeo : Owyhee County : Idaho

2013-05-13T07:13:10Z

High School Rodeo : Owyhee County : Idaho
Who would have thought a wearing a cowboy outfit is actually compulsory anywhere ......... hehehe......... well it is at a rodeo ........ if you are gonna be allowed anywhere near the action that is ........ hehehe......... I did stick out like a bit of a sore thumb......... the only idiot not in a cowboy suit at a rodeo ......... hehehehe.......... or is it all of them that are idiots ........ by the time they have 16 year olds doing that crazy bull riding ......... I felt like I might be the only non idiot there......... not only was I not wearing a cowboy outfit......... but I was openly saying surely it can't be a good idea to let kids ride these massively powerful animals that become enraged by any attempt to be on them....... and then try and kill the kids on their backs ......... er......... call me crazy but surely this is not a good idea ?????????? Got to hand it those young bull riders ....... they have definetly got guts ........ makes you glad you grew up in the city.

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com

Pickup Truck and The Beartooth Mountains : Red Lodge : Montana

2013-05-09T06:03:23Z

Pickup Truck and The Beartooth Mountains : Red Lodge : Montana
This pickup driver appears to be burning home ....... You do need to be careful on the roads in the evening light in Montana ......... I was rolling in the Beast Car just after shooting this image ...... I rounded a bend........ Suddenly I saw 5 or 6 deer on the road in my lane ........ I managed to swerve round them but one paniced and ran into the car ....... he hit me not the other way round .......... he kind of bounced off the side of the car .......... I thought oh no ........ two things....... one he will be hurt or dead ........ two he will have damaged the car ...... but he just got up imediately and ran off aparently uninjured ......... I stoped looked at the side of the car ......... it had white scratches all down it ........ but then they brushed off........ it was only deer fur....... not scratches............ so I think it was pretty lucky for both me and him ......... given the circumstance :-)

The distances in Montana leave me totally and utterly done in .............. but wow....... it is mega worth it ........... yeah it is absolutely magnificent ......... got to sleep..........

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com

The Gospel and the Gun : Glenrock : Wyoming

2013-05-06T18:51:11Z

The Gospel and the Gun : Glenrock : Wyoming
It's an odd contradiction especially from a European perspective and yet it remains true......... some of the friendliest people in America have the most guns .......... These are only a few of the weapons that belong to a Pastor I met at a gun show in Casper Wyoming ......... yeah from a European perspective that seems more than a little odd too ........ an armed vicar ? ...... hehehe ............. Not something you would ever see or dream of in the UK .......... He even told me he has on very rare occasions given his sermons wearing a side arm .......... That would probably not go down that well in your average Church of England Parish lets face it ......... hehehehe.......... Still, each to their own I guess ......... and I have to say he was amongst the most friendly and open people you could ever hope to meet ......... he invited me to photograph his church and his congregation............. When I went round they too were completely open and welcoming and very relaxed with me and my photography ........... :-)))))))))

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com

Jims Auto Salvage : Sturgis : South Dakota

2013-05-04T13:05:31Z

Jims Auto Salvage : Sturgis : South Dakota
So I have been rolling........... So much amazing landscape.......... and small snippets of adventure,........ and fantastically interesting people along the way..............

Most days as a professional photographer I have very specific missions to execute ........... but right now this is traveling with a view to shooting something .......... but that something........... is only determined by how the mood takes me and what I think of ......... or what I see along the way ............

Like Jim's Auto Salvage kind of amazing kind of terrible in equal measure .......... when I first turn up out of the blue Jim says he is fed up with folks taking pictures of his old cars and putting them in calendars .......... so he says he doesn't want photographers ............ but then we have a little more conversation ........ he is somebody literally making a living dealing with what others regard as junk ...... it looks like a difficult life ........... he is proud and self reliant ....... but he suffers from all the issues that drag on people trying to make their own business .... he is particularly bothered by taxes and regulations ..............

We have a nice conversation and I show him some photographs. Then he changes his mind and says I am OK to take a wonder round his giant site with literally thousands and thousands of rotting vehicles over acres of land.

Its like I said originally kind of amazing .......... Kind of terrible.......... Old vehicles some damaged by crashes others just rotting having expired some other way ............. All with a feeling of sadness draped around them ......... Their only hope that a crazed enthusiast will want to resurrect them ........ But more likely they will gradually deteriorate and over the years be slowly cannibalized for parts ..............

Of course this place is something of a horror in this beautiful landscape ........... and yet I find there is honor in trying to recycle and create value in the stuff people are just throwing away....... and this place is almost honoring the history of these once mighty Beasts ............

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com

Jez On Walkabout USA : South Dakota : USA

2013-05-02T02:30:01Z

Jez On Walkabout USA : South Dakota : USA
Well, ....... I am kind of on walkabout ....... Matt and I drove to Chicago ....... Then on to Minnesota to work on two different assignments ......... driving to Chicago and further from Atlanta would not be our normal modus operandi ......... and Matt then did the sensible thing and flew back to Atlanta from Minnesota .......... I weirdly drove on ........ Yeah .... Like I say.... I am kind of on walk about ......... but maybe you already know this?

Anyway, I am putting together a collection of pictures to eventually be a book......... I am trying to create a set that has something of the zeitgeist of America in the beginning of the 21st century ........ I want to have the option of images from every State in the USA ..........

Some States I spend a lot of time in so I have many pictures ........ but some States I have still never been to ........ this is my first time in either of the Dakotas .......... and weirdly amongst the most obvious I have still never been to Idaho or Utah.......... so I want take in at least those two on this trip ........ and you are right they are a fair way off from here ......... I am currently in Hot Springs South Dakota......... quite close to the state line with Nebraska ......... if you look at the photo above of the map I marked up with Matt in Minneapolis as a suggested route you get the basic idea ........ by that stage we had already done the black line of the Atlanta to Minneapolis leg (bottom right to almost top right of the route)......... Now, I have completed the leg Minneapolis to the bottom of South Dakota ( funny squiggle in yellow block central top of route)........ so I am making progress but still a very long way to go ........... I have made some worthwhile pictures too ........ :-)))

If you look at this route and have ideas or suggestions of things I should be looking at or shooting......... let me know .............. :-))))))))))

If I am passing your house at least come out and wave :-)) .......... if I am not passing you ....... drop me a line on the blog here ........... :-)))))))))

And if I am off grid periodically you will know why........... I will probably be lost in the 'Bad Lands' of The Dakotas or 'The Salt Flats' of Utah or anywhere in between ............... :-)))))))))

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com

Oil and Sky : Dickinson : North Dakota

2013-05-01T03:38:35Z

Oil and Sky : Dickinson : North Dakota
Today good news was announced for the US in terms of supplying more of its own energy needs .......... Specifically the amount of oil and shale gas in the main reserves found in North Dakota was today declared to be twice as big as previously thought ............ and it was already thought to be massive........ it has entirely transformed North Dakota and its finances.......... I was up there yesterday taking a little peek at the oil business close to Dickinson North Dakota........... This crazily spectacular sky above lasted for about 30 seconds as I was shooting this nodding donkey oil rig against the setting sun........ these rigs just go night and day on their own ........ mostly no one attends to them.

After I shot this I popped back into town for a celebratory visit to Taco Bell.......... :-)))

But then I was still up and about so I decided to roll to South Dakota specifically to Rapid City SD .......... Matt had already told me this would not be a sensible move in the dark .......... he is back in Atlanta but he was right of course........... 250 odd miles through total nothing......... the so called 'Bad Lands' ....... virtually no towns or settlements........ no gas stations no big roads.......... really nothing......

Anyway I filled the car full of gas and a spare tank too......... checked the tires........ checked the coffee and tick-tac situation......... then rolled........ it was 10PM .......... should be sort of close to Rapid City by around 3AM.........

The road was amazing......... total blackness........ only the road and absolute blackness either side ..........

I drove and drove and saw no sign of other people ...... no lights or buildings......... for maybe 50 or 100 miles at a time............ the whole journey I only saw one other car driving ........ driving the other way down the road towards me............. it was surreal............

At one point I was listening on the sat radio to the BBC World Service.......... they had a program about the surface of Mars......... I started to hallucinate that the incredible 'Tolkein-esk' landscapes they were describing were extending out from the road in the blackness either side of the road......... it was so pitch dark ........ anything could have been happening.......... the surface of Mars with evil aliens too..... maybe? ......... after all it is the 'Bad Lands' .......

I finally came to a little town about 50 miles from Rapid City.......... with a gas station that had 24 hour pumps........ no one actually there............ but I was glad to finally get gas ......... I was running low on the main tank........ and I was really glad to see signs of other people once more.............

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com

Salem Sue with Little Fluffy Clouds : Salem : North Dakota

2013-04-29T03:06:32Z

Salem Sue with Little Fluffy Clouds : Salem : North Dakota
I should have been listening to old school ambient sounds of The Orb ........ as I was rolling across the empty quarter of North Dakota in the Beast Car .......... cos I definitely think this cow was listening to 'Little Fluffy Clouds' ........ weirdly this is a 40 ft plastic cow......... 'The World Largest Holstein Cow' you can see it 5 miles off as you approach on highway 94 ......... it would be wrong not to stop unless you thought it was a mirage ......... luckily I had photographic evidence that there really is a 40 ft cow close to the 94 .......... cos sometimes I think I might have just hallucinated weird stuff while driving ........ then I am not sure if it really happened............ after all a 40 ft cow at the side of the road ...... for no good reason ........ ???????

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com