three towers (2023) (Patreon)

The air has been thick with fire smoke for the better part of two weeks now, and I haven't done much with that except shoot post-apocalyptic photos of myself, until yesterday. I have long been transfixed on radio towers and their repetitive blinking and man-made monolith nature, and letting the smoke perfectly isolate them gave them the prominence in the image that it feels like they have in my mind already. I've been meaning to make a series with these three towers forever, but last time I tried I got yelled at by the most fierce of the American fascists (the small business owner) for taking photos of an empty building, so I've let it rest for a bit.

I am not sure if I'll get a chance to go out and shoot more in the smoke today. Last time I shot in a wildfire, it's what sparked me to finally write Postcards, and the smoke in Reno last year was the first time I'd ever experienced wildfire season. I suspect it won't be all that rare for the rest of my life out West, though, so I'll probably be alright if I don't shoot a bunch of it this year; the fun part of being an apocalypse-obsessed photographer actually living through the fall of a civilization is that you get plentiful opportunities to shoot. 

Anyway, here's a bonus one I shot yesterday of myself to break up the monotony of the day a little; it's not worth making this a daily photo, but it's also too good to not share it (I had to manually focus accurate to a foot and then somehow stand in the right spot for that flower bokeh, come on). I'm absolutely positive my neighbors think I'm insane, but the pics are so cool it's hard to stop myself, haha.