Main Street, Fromberg, Montana.
Main reason I’ve been silent for a bit (aside from my last post) is I’ve been working on a video/slideshow that sums up (or purports to) my seven years on the road with Gus and cameras (of various types).
I am unsure of whether the way I present the images will work for most folks. Works for me but I am familiar with the photos (to say the least). I present the images in a way I have not seen before. As you’ll see, they tend to go by very quickly, then, a bit later, just quickly.
For me, the interesting thing is that each time I re-view the thing, I ‘see’ different images as they whiz by (in the first section, which is the fastest). Images tend to pop out and imprint themselves… I dunno….
If there are issues with the Embed, click here.
Maybe you’ll see what I mean. Please let me know in comments. I may make changes.
Adjacent to the blacksmith’s storefront, Fromberg. A deco place to wait while your horse is shod, perhaps.
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‘Two-lane Blacktop Gems’
I was thinking of doing another post with the above as title but decided to just add this to The Art of the Boondock; America’s Back Roads (etc.), since it fits so well with that title as well.
I am headed back to South Dakota (my home now) from northwestern Montana, as usual taking two lane blacktop whenever possible/practical and the hamlet of Fromberg (Mt) is a good example of why (I take two-land blacktop).
Nicole’s heavy makeup and busty black-bordered decollatage feel more out of Lost Highway than The Last Picture Show.
Population 438 (2010 census), down from 486 (2000 census), 60 yard Main Street, every storefront a piece of peculiar and distinctive work, the main drag immediately struck me as kinda… Lynchian. I mean, take a gander at the town’s realtor (Nicole!) and try to fit her into rural Montana, let alone a 2021 town with a smithee (blacksmith) on main street.
The four residents I spoke with reinforced the oddball, though thoroughly charming vibe, two of which formed a couple (literally a ‘couple’, I suspect) of elderly ladies strolling around the sort of vest-pocket park across the RR tracks from main street where I’m ensconced. (An endless freight train clattering and blaring by as I write, just a few yards from my campsite, auditorially add to the out-of-whack Lynchian sense of Fromberg.)
Another Main Street niche.
Coming across a locale like Fromberg — and I could have missed it with an ill-timed blink as I drove — is what this now seven year plus road trip is all about, especially now, having unexpectedly dived back into photography. Talk about photo-rich!
Speaking of which, I don’t have any idea how you all will react to my embedded slideshow/short film, but I do hope you take a moment to comment on how it strikes you. The more I think about it, the less sure I am that it will work with viewers not already as familiar with my pics as I am. They may go by in an incoherent blur, rather than randomly yet clearly pop out as they do for me. A lot of work went into this piece and it may have been for nought. Still, fire away.
Allan
Let’s see if I can fit in one more of Fromberg…
(I’d really like to start a website for rubber tramp photogs but need a web designer. Again: You know one I can trust?)
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