I spent two days around Steamboat Springs trying to observe the scene and see something special. During the second day it found me. I was sitting in some shade having a think about what to do next when Jackson approached me. He had a curiosity and enthusiasm about learning all he could post graduation from high school. After I told him what I was up to he said his friends were about to come through. I talked him through the technicals as I set up and as I finished rigging his friends began to show up. I watched as this group of childhood friends navigated the last days of summer before they are pulled apart by time, place, and pursuit of what is next in life.
I met Paul by chance watching him wander aimlessly in the brush below a bluff I had pulled over at to gather my thoughts. When he got closer I called out to him asking how he was doing “Not good” he said unable to make eye contact with a stranger. We had a conversation unrushed by time or the need to fill in the silent gaps. Recently hit by hard times he is homeless and sleeping in a tent hidden in some bushes. The previous night he had lost his cat named Dreamer and feared that she had been prey to a snake or a predatory bird in the area. I asked him if I could come back later under better light and photograph him. He has let me know that his cat showed back up the next morning.
