It was Thanksgiving night in 2008. I was out celebrating with friends at a dinner and I was having a good time. Normally on nights, I have to go to Cerritos for work to pickup something to take to the airport so it can go on a flight to San Luis Obispo. I was told by my superiors that I didn't have to do this Thanksgiving eve but on Thanksgiving night which was weird for me because the airport I go to, Burbank/Bob Hope, is usually closed on holidays but I figured they knew what the score was so I took their word as truth.
So there I am at Thanksgiving dinner having a ball. Grubbing on food and having a drink or two like normal people would on Thanksgiving. After the dinner was over, I headed out to Cerritos to pick that stuff up and take to the airport. All good up until I get to the airport to find out that they were closed (as I thought they would be) and would not accept it. I wasn't pissed at all. Didn't even worry about it. I figured I'm still good because my bosses told me to do this. So I went home and thought nothing of it anymore.
I get a call at 7am the next day from my boss telling me what happened to the package because the people in San Luis Obispo never got it and are asking for it. So I tell my boss that I did what you told me to do and I still have it in my car. Apparently my bosses messed up and I was supposed to do this thing on Thanksgiving eve instead of Thanksgiving night. So what happened? I had to drive all the way to San Luis Obispo from LA to drop this stuff off which pissed me off! At this point, there was no helping it and so I had to do the duty and off I went.
I was still rather ticked off while I was driving there until I reached Santa Barbara and saw that it was a lovely day. Blue sky with very little clouds around. So I started to enjoy my ride up there. As I was nearing my destination, I found myself driving through small hills and after I was on the freeway not 5 minutes ago, I was suddenly transported back into time as I was driving on a small road and into various small towns. I thought, "Damn, I wish I could take photos after I'm done with this bullshit". I looked down at the passenger side floor and noticed I had my camera sitting there! That's one thing about being a photographer and into photography. You make it a point to have a camera ready and accessible everywhere you go. I kept driving until I reached my destination and while on the way, there was this old farm with this mailbox just sitting outside by a bit of a stretch of road that caught my eye. "I've got to take a photo of this thing" I thought.
I dropped off the stuff to the guys in SLO and I rushed back to that old farm and that mailbox that caught my eye. I can't tell you exactly why it did, but I had to take a photo of it. I got to the place and parked my trusty Volkswagen Rabbit on the side, grabbed my camera and waited. Waited for the cars passing by to get the hell out of the frame. Waited for the various ravens and 4 legged animals crossing the road to get out of the frame. Just waited. A couple of shots taken and I think I got what I wanted in the end.
So what started off as a really bad day, being awoken at 7am, having to drive all the way to B.F.E., I took it all in stride eventually and gradually had a change of heart midway through my day and trip and came out with something special to me...