Women's Work

I have always been fascinated with the roll women play in professions that have historically been male domindated positions.  Even more than the fact thaty are taking on a roll that has been defined by gender in this culture, I want to know why they decided on this line of work and what their life is like outside of their profession.

As you know, I am on the road with my dog Max, a tent and my camera.  A personal project of mine is meeting these amazing women.  As I spend months on the road, I would love the opportunity to spend time with them side by side to capture not only them in photographs on the job, but living their everyday life to get a glimpse of who they are and to ultimately publish a book about their lives.

I started this journey over a month ago and have been photographing women I meet on the road who have career positions that have historically belonged to men.  I would also like to meet women who do inspiring work and spend their lives living out their passion.  That would include artists, visionaries, musicians, and the like.

I think these women are a great example for girls to see and learn first hand that there is nothing they can't do.  That just because they are a girl doesn't mean they have to follow a path that society or the history books say that it's meant for a girl to take simply because of their gender.  I am thankful to the trailblazers that wrote and those who approved title 9. Once approved, I was able to participate on a Women's basketball team in college.

It also starts at home.  I was lucky enough to have parents that kept me busy in activities and sports and who didn't blink an eye when I wanted to try out for the football team in junior high even though I would have been the only girl.

All of the women I have met so far didn't pay attention to any rules to say they couldn't do what they do because of their gender.  Thank you to all of these amazing women who took the time to talk to me about what they do and for setting an example to younger generations looking to do the same.

Animated Afghanistan IED Attacks

A Day At The Lake And Art Fair In Coeur d'Alene Idaho

I've been hanging out in Eastern Washington State for a while and for the weekend I ventured with my friend Cat to Idaho to spend the day in Coeur d'Alene and attend the art festival they had over the weekend.

The city was jam packed with vendors and artists that stretched from the downtown area, through the parks and to the lake.  We browsed the artwork at each vendor and strolled along the grounds throughout the day.  The weather was beautiful and people were out to enjoy the day.  It was pretty crowded wherever we went and at one point, I wandered off to watch the kids on the pier playing and enjoying the day.

Usually I like to wander to people and things that seem interesting to me.  It's a good thing Cat knows this. She didn't have a problem with me darting in different directions to snap photographs of people and places that caught my eye.  I sat down by the pier for a while to capture kids having a good time, I took photographs of vendors that I found interesting and captured some of the activities going on at the time.

I love art and being in nature.  The festival had the best of both worlds.  I plan to spend a little more time here before I head out and I look forward to showing you more of what the area has to offer.  I love to photograph people in their element.  For more images of people in their habitat, click HERE.

Herding Cows On A Working Ranch In Washington

I would consider myself adventurous.  My friend Kari wanted me to experience a little of what life is like on her family's ranch so I agreed to play along.  I headed out to the ranch located two hours West of Spokane outside of a small town where there aren't any stoplights or grocery stores to be found.  However, I did notice a blacksmith and a post office.

This is her way of life year round.  The cows are out to pasture at the moment, so I decided to tag along while she moved them to another pasture.  Trading horses for ATV's, we headed out to herd the cows from one stretch of land to the next.  It's a good thing she knew where we were driving and what we were doing.  There were bumps, holes, drop offs, etc in the ground that I didn't notice until I was right up against it.  The last time I sat on an ATV I was 16 and it was a three wheeler.  As I was going up a hill, I didn't distribute my weight high enough so I jumped off and the ATV went crashing down the hill.  Of course, I didn't mention this to Kari at the time.

This time, it was a smoother ride.  I learned a lot about ranching on our adventure.  I didn't know that cows will come to you when called.  At one point, we were driving along and she kept yelling, "here...cows!...hereeeeee cows!!!"  I thought that was nice that she was saying hello but in fact, they listened and a few moments later, we were in the line of a stampede.  Just as the cows got to the gate, they stopped when they saw me, unsure of what I was doing there with my camera.  I slowly tip toed out of the way and they continued on their way.

After we did this a few times, we drove around the area to explore empty barns, a cemetery and stopping to chat with a neighbor on his ATV driving by to check on an area he sprayed the day before.  Three ATV's on the same road would be considered a traffic jam in this area.  In fact, after chatting with Kari's dad for a while, he doesn't even know where the key to his house is located.  "What do I need a key for?" he said.

Life is sure different out on the ranch.  I think everyone should experience this once in a lifetime.  I am not a beef eater but I think it's a good education to see where your food comes from and the people behind the work.  I also toured a working ranch in Arizona where they branded cows in front of us.  Wasn't the most pleasant sight but it's what they do to keep Americans fed.

Thank you Kari for the tour! She will be featured in my "Women's Work" project.  To see more photographs of these women, click HERE

Washington State University WSU Airstream Trailer Design Project

My friend Cat told me about the Airstream project that the students at Washington State University were working on as a class project.  I decided to take a visit to see what they were up to and look at the progress the students have made to the project thus far.

As their website describes, "The WSU Airstream Studio is a Summer 2010 design build course for students of architecture and interior design at the Interdisciplinary Design Institute.

The course will focus on the design transformation of an American ICON of manufacturing–the Airstream trailer.  This transformation includes the redesign and build of interior (and perhaps exterior) components of a 1958 26’ Airstream chassis.

Design research for the studio includes a focus on ICONICITY, MOBILITY, and PRODUCT DESIGN."
Read more: http://spokane.wsu.edu/academics/Design/airstream/#ixzz0v5teZagh

Follow their progress on their Facebook Fan page HERE

I met the professor, Todd at the warehouse on campus where the Airstream is housed.  They just finished buffing the shiny exterior shell and plans for the design were laid out on a bench.  They took to the time to explain what they were doing to make it unique.  To read more about the idea behind the design and their progress, click HERE.

Meeting the students working hard on the project took me back to my college days.  It's so inspiring to see young minds developing new ideas and solutions to things when there aren't any rules.  As adults, we become more custom to why things won't work rather then thinking of new ideas on how things can be accomplished.  I look forward to following their progress in the next few months.  Thank you to Todd and the students for taking the time to meet with me and pose for the camera. 

I even pushed through my fear of heights by climbing on the scaffolding ladder (seen on right) to the top to take the image on the top right of the blog.  They kept saying, "you can get higher...go up higher."  Slowly but surely I climbed up to the top with my flip flops on to take a shot.  Very carefully I might add (as it turns out, you can see my reflection on the Airstream getting the shot).  As long as I didn't look down I was ok.  Unfortunately, I needed to look down to get off.  I don't see being a house painter in my future.  

Update

Covered the remaining short hedged positions at 1085 on the ES. Presently, we are continuing to hold the hedges, which makes us long...for free.

Steve Meyers Interview - Interesting...