The Underground

A few weeks ago, I went into an underground gold mine in Elko, Nevada. Jacob Johnson and Christine Armbruster came with me as the film crew, and Steve Bessert was our tour guide. The purpose in going down was to take photos and video of the environment and the miners in an effort to show the world what this kind of work entails. In an essence, these men and women work in extreme and dangerous conditions every day, just to put bread on their tables. They work twelve-hour shifts, sometimes on graveyard, and sometimes during the day, rarely seeing the sun.
Having grown up in Elko, I have always wondered what the mines were like. They seemed like a different world than I had ever experienced before. I was right.




Lucky Helmet. This guy has kept the same helmet he was issued the first day he came underground - he claimed it is good luck. He also said that having women underground was bad luck... oops.






This is a "brass." It has your name and worker ID# on it for identification. Anytime you go underground, you hang one on a peg and keep one on your belt - this is so they know who is underground in the event of an accident - or so they don't start blasting when people are in the mine.

What I did instead

About 5 days before this final project was due, I had a nervous breakdown and decided to completely change my project. Even though I was enjoying the chairs, I was finding the pre-production a lot harder than it had to be. In going back through some of my previous work, and with Jeff's help, I realized I had a tendency to take pictures of buildings and walls in a certain way. With this in mind, I made a snap decision and decided to do a project on flat surfaces, or rather, making surfaces look flat. This is the final product.

Chairs - Tres

Shot #3: Saddle
Taken Tuesday, 3/30 at 6:30pm.

Connections are everything. My visiting teacher, one of the nicest women I know and my Mom away from Mom, owns several horses and has a stable north of town. I went with her to her barn and spent 1 1/2 hours photographing this saddle, then ended up using one of the first ten shots. Silly me. I guess I need to realize that usually the first way I see it is the best way - even when I do experiment with different angles. Here is the finished product as of today.

Chairs - Dos

Shot #2: Couch
Taken Sunday, 3/21 at 6:30pm.

In my pre-conceptualization, I envisioned this shot as being more of a graphic image - and not so much trying to portray an idea. Knowing myself, this was a dangerous route to take because I feel that photographs that have an idea behind them are often stronger, and resonate more with the viewer. However, in the past, I have had some success with purely graphic images, so I figured I'd push my luck and make this one just that. Jeff and I borrowed my friend's little Ford Ranger, loaded his couch in the back, and went out on Highway 89 in search of the perfect section of railroad. It only took about 20min to find the spot. Jeff and I jumped out and tried to act casual as we unloaded this couch by the side of the road. We tried to get in and out as fast as possible, so we were running cushions back and forth, all the time keeping a keen ear for the train's whistle. As much as I would have liked getting a shot of a couch being hit by a train, I didn't really feel like getting arrested. Here are a few of the basically unedited proofs.

Chairs - Uno

chair | ch e(ə)r|
noun
1 a separate seat for one person, typically with a back and four legs.
• historical a sedan chair.
• short for chairlift .


Perhaps I need to go outside my creative realm, but I felt that doing a project on chairs would set a limit that would then somehow enhance my creativity. I mean really... chairs? It all sounds rather boring. Fortunately, however, I aim to bring the personality out of the chairs by using stereotypes, juxtapositions, and sheer sagacity.


Shot #1: Dentist Chair
Taken Friday, 3/12 at 12:00am.

I wanted to convey the fear that is felt when one sits in this chair and hears the dentist turn on the drill. That was the plan... unfortunately, my husband, Jeff, and I had a hard time getting it done. Jeff's dad is a dentist, so getting into the office at that hour wasn't a problem, the problem was that I didn't get pocket wizards when I checked out the lights and we couldn't get the second light to fire from the slave. Needless to say, it was a rather frustrating hour filled with mild expletives, standing on swivel chairs, and using a mirror to try and reflect light back on the slave.
Here is an unfinished prototype of what the shot might look like.