join the discussion - leave a comment.

I’ve been thinking about why I like dumpster/container images so much (like the one I’m posting today).

• Ultimately while I may just take a photograph – there was quite a lot of work and time spent on the subject to make what its become. And its journey is not over. I’ve only preserved one moment along its journey.
• It is a communal art. It took a dozen (or more) workers, repeatedly, to create this.
• People followed schedules, they decided what hours they would work on it.
• Planning and decision making was used to determine what would be put in this dumpster/container.
• Decisions were made as to whether the so-called refuse would be tossed, thrown, dumped, dropped or placed in this container.
• There is the time when the dumpster is full and loaded to be hauled away, its contents jostled, shaken and stirred.
• Then of course, there is the moment the dumpster is unceremoniously emptied where contents slide out of their container into the local dump or recycling center.
• Now there was also an element fo chance in these acts; The loose lid on the paint can that comes loose causing paint to drip, run and splash in presumed random motions, the rogue nail sticking out, various surfaces to scratch and scrape. A fabric to wipe and smear. Possibly a forgotten chemical to erode and corrode.
• The dumpster/container is made of steel and gives the allusion of strength and permanence even though time proves it an illusion/delusion.
• Then of course there are the elements, the sun and rain working to bring forth the corrosion, oxidation and rust with their texture and color changes.
• All these things repeated over and over, constantly changing the “canvas” until the fateful moment I took the photograph.

I am humbled by the beauty and how little I did to create it. After all I’m just a photographer , another damaged human with an eye for damaged things. Like so many others I’m just someone with a “silver plated soul beneath the damage and the dust…” looking to photograph things and bring forth their beauty that lies beneath the damage and the dust.