Well, I had to get out. Report are circulating everywhere about how the right-wingers, including militia groups, are planning to take over state capitals this upcoming weekend (January 16-17), as well as planning more protests in Washington, up to and including inauguration day (January 20th). All I can say is, how did we allow things to descend so much? How could people have expected otherwise when they voted for Trump in 2016? What is the hold that Trump has on white people, and please, academics, do not try to dress it up with fancy labels that disinfect this movement, do not call it "nativism" nor "economic insecurity", call it what it is, an ideology of "white supremacy" that attacks minorities and seeks to express itself in chauvinism and authoritarianism meant to subjugate others. The arrogance of Trump reflects the negativity of those terms, and abundantly so. It is all about white power, as seen in the inability of Trump to even condemn KKK marchers, calling them, as he did infamously a few years ago, "good people too". And yet, Trump received over 70 million votes in this country in the last election, in 2020, in the middle of a massive pandemic failure, 70 million votes for a sociopath. What is the hold that Trump has on white people in this country? Do they fear us (I am a Latino) so much? Is it like that despicable college football coach Lou Holtz said in another infamous speech a few years ago, "I don't want to be you!". (No one is obligating you to do so, nor we as lacking as you seem to find us.) And Trump continues to coalesce all kinds of insecure people to himself. Your wall is your mind, Trump.
Here are one photo I took yesterday, Monday, January 11th, after having some lab work done at the doctor's office. I tried to climb the hills around the center but they are too steep, especially for someone trying to lug around an 8x10 camera, even a light one such as my Willtravel 3D printed version. It was also windy, and I had to give up on one shot of the San Gabriel mountains because I was afraid the wind would knock over my camera. I don't know how Ben Horne does it carrying around a massive backpack with over 50 pounds of equipment as he scrambles up and down the washes of Zion National Park, all the while trying to avoid mountain lions and furry spiders. (He says he is not afraid of rattlesnakes.) I am not Ben Horne, I am maybe fifteen years older than he is, I am afraid of heights, afraid of mountain lions, afraid of spiders and, yes, especially afraid of rattlesnakes. I do not have fancy equipment with me either, I do not have a satellite phone that would call rescuers to me if I were to twist or sprain an ankle, much less if a bear were to chase me, as in one of the scenes in a Shakespeare play, off the stage of life. Plus, I am not that fit, I don't run up and down mountains everyday in preparation for these jaunts, and I am afraid each time I venture out because of the people I see who do not wear facemasks. I do what I can, but how I would love to photograph pristine landscape scenes with Fuji slide film one day the way Ben Horne does, and just hold a big 8x10 jeweled slide on a light table and fall into it.
For this photo, I was returning from a quick jaunt near the base of the hill and as I did noticed the approach of a family of Latinos (I am Latino too) who were not wearing face masks. I quickly took a turn to avoid them, while scowling underneath my mask. They were oblivious, especially the grandmother who was walking with her grandchildren and talking on the phone nonstop. Do they not follow the news? Has Covid avoided their families and communities completely? Do they think they are invulnerable? I tried to move away from them, as I do with anyone who I spot not wearing a mask, and found this shell of a building. I thought I might be able to obtain a composition, so I took out the camera and framed it. I know, I know, the subject is not particularly noteworthy, it might be on the level of a cliché, but I am not Thomas Heaton nor the other Youtube landscape superstars who post videos regularly, and they post photos of cliché subjects too. I just wanted to try the shot.
Fomapan 200 8x10 black and white film, Willtravel 8x10 3D printed camera, f22, 1/15 shutter speed, Cokin orange filter on the lens, developed in Arista D76, Lisco Regal II film holder.
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