it's a sad and beautiful world

Pulaski, VA

Both of these photos were taken yesterday in Pulaski. I needed to grade essays and do some work around the house, but when Josh called and suggested driving out and taking photos, I couldn't pass it up. The first photo was taken at what looked to be a salvage yard for Volkswagen buses. I initially stopped to take a photo of the Prayer Infirmary, a squat cinderblock church painted bright pink, and Josh walked across the street to get a shot of the rows of nearly identical VW's. I didn't really get any good shots of the Prayer Infirmary, but the buses turned out to be interesting.

After exploring the buses for 30 minutes or so, we drove down toward Magnox, a sort of jaundiced yellow colored 120 year old factory where rust is used to make coatings for magnetic tapes. About a half-mile away from Magnox, we found what looked like a set for a Western movie (imagine McCabe and Mrs. Miller), several unpainted buildings constructed of rough cut pine boards and knotted logs. I'd driven by the place in the past, but I'd never stopped to explore it. It turned out to be much more fascinating than I would've imagined. We found a room with several rusted pot-bellied stoves, a large carving of a bear, a few random boxes of sea shells, and a wall marked by "Konvict and Little Bit."

The seagull shot is from later in the day. Josh noticed the gulls in front the Save-A-Lot grocery, and we pulled in to see if we could get a photo or two. Messing around with the gulls turned out to be the best part of one of the best days I've had in a while. I walked over to the Dollar General and bought a loaf of bread, and we spent a couple hours tossing balls of bread a few feet over our heads for the birds to catch in their beaks. The idea was to get them to hover over us for as long as possible to attempt to get a good shot against the blue background of the sky. It wasn't easy. As soon as the birds grabbed the bread, which they are very good at, they would immediately glide away. I think I managed to get a few decent shots, and I had fun acting like Thomas from Antonioni's Blow Up (the gulls as Jane Birkin?), but it would've been great even without the cameras.

wonderful video for Sparklehorse's "Sad and Beautiful World"