firelight.

after forgetting both matches and a lighter i resulted to my scouting days and attempted to produce an amber glow using the most primitive means possible. rubbing two sticks together of course. i made a small bow and tried to make a fire by friction. all i got was a little smoke and a lot of sweat. the following night i came prepared and accomplished a campfire which served many purposes, but the most important being to ward off the most ferocious predator in the mountains of west virginia. the bugs. the bugs are also the reason i look like a mexican gangster. the bandana covers my ears where tiny gnats love to drag race back and forth.

...

he looks cute and cuddly while in the net, almost smiling really. but he/she, like most of the bats we caught on my first night of netting, go nuts as soon as you touch them, hence the leather work gloves. eric and i had a good night of netting, nabbing eight bats in five hours. it was a change of pace from the miles of 4 wheeler riding we had put in previously in the week. i think our netting will be short lived. there is still one with a transmitter attached to it which has proven to be quite illusive. eric and i will be back on tracking duty tonight.

front porch sittin.

this is the view from the front porch of my summer home in whitesburg. not sure how much i'll get to see of it. the ghostly girl is rebecca o' who works at appalshop and that's the amazingly talented and determined amelia doing a number on the old carpet in the dinning room. imagine that, i come to whitesburg and within day's we're starting projects.

good ol' boyz.

one high quality malt liquor/energy drink + a set of car keys = a test of manhood and a moment of peak intelligence otherwise known as shotgunning. got to visit with poynter and b-wag last week for a few days. i think we all realized just how much we miss one another's company. they are both all growns up now with fancy houses and plans for fixing them up. kind of makes me feel like a slacker since i just quit my job and currently reside in a knights inn in the mountains of west virginia, but i'm on my own adventure i suppose. anyway the time in k-town was great and also gave birth to the fantastic knoxville trio karaoke group who debuted at toot's honky tonk bar rising to number one on the charts with their rendition of tom petty's won't back down and then plummeting with their second release of dolly parton's jolene. and i'm now in the belt making business. wagner chose the fitting words, which is actually one word but it fits better this way, home made. i hammered it out as everyone else socialized.

360 degrees from atop town hill.

which is really a mountain. it's about a three mile hike to the top and the view is worth every long winded, out of shape, heaving breath. sorry the picture is so small.

hello whitesburg hello home.

home |hom| 1. the place where one lives permanently, esp. as a member of a family or household. 2. a place where something flourishes, is most typically found, or from which it originates.

despite the fact that i'm writing this from shawn poynter's living room, i am home. it's hot as shit and it's muggy enough that if you walk outside it feels as if you have to push the air out of the way and it's almost hard to get a breath like when your in a car and you stick your head out the window. so far home has been wonderful. i've tried to ignore any feelings guilt for leaving my job and focus on the fun times that will be had this summer. i haven't started work with bats yet, but that should be exciting as well. this is a glimpse of home. the first few are from the nati while hanging out with my buddy derrick, his graffiti, his apartment, his city. the latter is from my first day in whitesburg. j. cut out of work early and we went swimming at the highest (in elevation) swimming hole that i know of in kentucky at the top of pine mountain. the swimming hole is part of jim webb's, kentucky's highest (in elevation) resident, resort. he's the bearded one, and a film maker at appalshop. it was amazing and we later ended the evening with some of amelia's wonderful leftover lasagna. i'll keep you posted on the events that follow, right now it's off to breakfast with poynter at nearly 11a.m.

really great people.

"those who risk win" i've been telling myself and everyone around me that for a couple of years now. i usually apply the concept to photography and encourage people to look outside the box at a situation or how to approach it. well most of you probably already know i said farewell to my job as a staff photographer at the mdn (this is the point where i could say, for a freelance career in some big city, but that would be a lie. if you haven't heard i'm moving to whitesburg, kentucky to help my friend joel with his bat studies for the summer. i plan on figuring it out along the way.) i also said farewell to some really great people. to everyone who has shown me much kindness over the past three years i'd like to say thank you. you are all wonderful and you made michigan a great place to be. i would especially like to thank my gracious and amazing friends buford and mindy. your generosity toward the end of my time in michigan allowed me the opportunity to move on and made my final memories of midland some of the best of all. it was so nice to end on a high note and you guys made it happen. thank you. and all images seen on this blog can be credited to the lemon keefe connection by their continued generosity of the new fowty D. you guys are unbelievably kind and genuine. true salt of the earth and i can't thank you enough. please check out KEVIN'S BLOG to see pictures from my final send off party held in the ol' backyard southern style, equipped with plenty of starting fluid, tiki torches, good people, and what my stepmother likes to call my "go to hell hat".
and to ryan and kevin, keep er between the ditches and don't piss into the wind. you have both given me far more than i can return. thank you for the inspiration, support, education, and occasional kick in the ass. keep it rural.