TRACTOR GRAVEYARD

I got my first camera in 1966. It was a Minolta Hi-Matic 9 rangefinder. My father bought it for me, in Europe. He went for business. He asked me if I wanted him to bring anything back, besides records by the Beatles and the Stones. I asked him to bring me a camera. Now, Leica makes some pretty fine cameras and they happened to have made them in Europe. Rollei made cameras. Hell, Hasselblads were supposed to be good. My father bought himself a Minox-- like a spy camera. He would sneak shoot some snaps of women's shoes in store windows in Rome and Paris. Now, before you draw the wrong conclusion, my father was in the shoe business. His idea of designing was to take pictures of the latest styles and have the factory he worked for copy them.

The first pictures I took with my Minolta Hi-Matic 9 were in a graveyard. I thought it would be creative and cool.

I just got my Canon G9 back from having it repaired. I'll spare the details, but the point is, although it is not a NEW camera. It seems, for the purposes of this introduction to a series of photographs I took the day before yesterday. They were taken at what I think of as a tractor graveyard. Almost a hundred mostly Ford tractors in various stages of rust and deterioration. The lot is usually locked up. I noticed it was open and activity going on the other day. I was on my way to the opthamologist for an eye exam. I had some time to kill afterward. Bearing in mind I had just had my eyes dilated for the exam. I could hardly see, let alone drive. Bearing that in mind, I headed back toward the graveyard.

I think the potion's effects on my vision started to diminish as I got to the graveyard. Or at least I would like to think that...