Photo title:

Landfil Refugees

Photo specs:
35mm Film: Kodak B/W (prolly 400 or 800, X-PAN or Tri-X)
Camera: My Grandfather's Minolta XD-11
Lens: Minolta 1.4
Shot Setting: Wide open aperture with prolly a 1/250th or 1/500th shutter.

Minor details: It's a parking lot in Anaheim, CA. It was raining; the objects that look like little pebbles or bits of glass on the ground are rain drops as they are hitting the ground. I was laying prostrate under the back of a big rig with the camera on the ground to keep it dry and steadyPhoto story:My mom grew up on a farm in Kentucky built by her Father and brothers on hundreds of acres of land the family owned back then. They were self-sufficient. The land and the farm animals provided all the shelter and food they needed. My Grandmama's garden produced produce. Of course, things were not entirely organic and reusable. They had trash. Garbage items made of glass, plastic and metal were piled up over decades in the forest about 100 yards from the back porch of the farm house. My mom doesn't live there now, but keeps the place up on the weekends. On my last trip back, I went there. The house is intact but showing its age. I found no inhabitants, no more garden, no animals and no big barn. Instead, I discovered the surviving elements of simpler times through a couple of cans and a bottle. Big Red in a bottle was my favorite soda. It tasted like the best bubblegum, but in liquid form. I could get it in Kentucky, but not at home in California. The can of Pepsi-Cola was one of the early ones, aluminum or maybe tin, with a "peel-off" spout, not like the "punch-in" ones of today. Some of you will remember that can top very well because the little metal finger ring used to open it would sometimes break off leaving you with no way to get to your beverage without the use of some other tool. I'm sure my Uncle Buddy was the imbiber of the crushed can of Budweiser. The can of Bud is particularly significant because Russell County, where the farm is, happens to have been a "dry" county. It is illegal to buy or sell alcohol anywhere, anytime within the county limits. (Pretty sure it's still dry today) So, the soda bottle, soda and beer can survived countless harsh winters, blistering summers, varmints and the like, all to inspire this photo.