Homage to the Propane Tank
On February 21, 2016 I discovered it ̶ hidden behind a fence, next to an abandoned building on public lands. The light was remarkable. It glowed as though it were a life-form ̶ a space ship from another planet that plunked itself down just out of site to spy on the earthlings in the gardens and trails a few yards away. Its awesome presence in that late-day light made me cautious to approach, just in case it were somehow to spring to life. I didn't touch it that first day. Was it empty? or full? If full, of what? But I looked, and photographed, and I was hooked.
The propane tank became one of my special secrets ̶ a dying friend I would visit and revisit as the months and years went by.
The propane tank became one of my special secrets ̶ a dying friend I would visit and revisit as the months and years went by.
While it was glorious that first day, even then I knew it was well past its prime. It's job was long over and it was only a matter of time before the proper authorities would come to haul it away for demolition, whether out of a concern for safety, for reclaiming the land for public use, or to make way for luxury housing. It lasted much longer than I expected. I am grateful for its life and I hope that before me it served a meaningful purpose.
Monitoring this landscape, there is much that changes. Things both natural and man-made come and go, flower and decay, shine and get taken away. It offers a perspective on life and fills me with a healthy sense of impermanence I do not fear. In my photographs, I celebrate our evolution.
(RIP March, 2019)
