Return to Randomness

I have several pockets full of photographic themes that I enjoy. One of the oldest is Randomness. I have told this story a hundred times but maybe someone hasn’t heard it.

 Some sixty years ago I often photographed in what remained of the oil fields around my home town. There were patches of oil that had become almost solidified with the sandy soil. There were abandoned buildings, abandoned oil field equipment and all sorts of debris scattered about. I loved finding what I thought was interesting designs in these abandoned objects. What was fascinating about these ‘designs’ was that they were the result of happenstance—not something put together intentionally. Over the years I began to call it Randomness; which by my definition is design that happens without intentional human intervention. I have always said that I enjoy this theme because I have such difficulty coloring outside the lines.

I see Randomness in much of what I photograph. My Walls and Walks, abandoned clothing, torn posters, aftermath of fire, junk piles, peeling paint, clothing tossed on a chair at night. I see randomness almost everywhere I look and enjoy trying to capture it in photographs.

A couple of days ago Alcy and I stopped in at The Sand Dollar in search of models. As we were leaving we drove down an alley where I shot these photographs.