Craftsman 

It’s been quite a while since my last post, and the only reason I have to give is “I been busy”.  More like, “I been on vacation”.  This past weekend, however, I got up way too early and drove up to Franklinton, NC with a bunch of Flickrati to shoot pictures of a closed down factory.  While I didn’t get into the building shooting as much as the other folks, I really loved the shooting we did afterward. 

We drove the two blocks from the factory to the “downtown” of Franklinton, which was fairly abandoned at nine in the morning on that very cold day.  After shooting bricks, burned out storefronts, and even a quick portrait of a stylist in a main street salon, we found Paul.  One of the group had been invited into a tire retreading workshop, and all of us followed him in.  It was a dark and dirty place with the light streaming in dramatically through frosted and dirty windows.   Paul works in the shop, retreading the tires. 

I’d never see a tire be retreaded, and I had never honestly given the process a single thought.  It was very interesting to watch, and Paul was very patient with us.  He continued his work, seemingly unfazed by the cloud of photographers documenting his labor.  We watched him grind a tire down, apply new rubber, and apply a new tread.  We didn’t see him place them in the oven to cure, but the shop owner did show me the oven.  It looks like the mid-sized LP storage tanks you see behind old houses.  Written on the end, in yellow grease pencil, is “Keep Away!  May Be Hot!”  Paul stood for a few traditional portrait shots before we left, and I thanked him for his time.  I’ll be printing a few images and taking them up to him in the next few weeks.  Meeting him, watching him work, and making those images made my weekend. 

Image:  Paul at work, preparing a new tread for the tire he’s working on.