Flashback Fridays: Truckers on the Grapevine

My catalogue has recently reached 80K images. That's a lot of shooting--probably over six year's worth. I started my blog just over a year ago, so that leaves many, many shoots unshared. Well, let's change that!

04.18.06

A taste of the life of an artist.

9PM: With gear smashed into the back of my tiny VW bug, myself and two very brave comrades, hit the road. Destination: a massive truck stop along California's Grapevine, somewhere between Santa Barbara and Santa Clarita, off the five freeway.

10:20PM: Arrival at location. A quick bite to eat--Funyons and Mountain Dew, if my memory serves me correctly--and setup begins. I chose the outskirts of the fueling lot behind the general store. My vision was to show truck movement in the background of the portraits with streaks from the headlights. That was the easy part.

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Really, the challenge was in connecting with these sleep-deprived and leery truckers. It was no easy task; my people skills were definitely pushed to a whole new level that night. I knew that would be the case. That's why I took on the project.

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10:55PM: All set up and finally able to convince a trucker to sign a release and have his photograph taken.

11PM-3AM: Over the course of several hours I successfully persuaded over twenty-five truckers to be photographed.

3:20AM: Tear down and drive home.

5AM: Head finally hits the pillow.

8AM: Launched out of cozy covers, grabbed equipment, and rushed to the rental store...

10AM: A new day, time to do it all over again.

Annnd...the images....