fifi’s graffiti and graveyards

I went to Anna a few days ago specifically to shoot this sign. I thought it might have been an old Dairy Queen sign that had been repainted, but my little brother, the expert, thinks it’s a one-of-a-kind. I didn’t know if it was still an operating business (it is); I just kept thinking, “I hope I get back before they tear it down.” Until the recent downturn, Anna seemed poised to become one more subdivision blighting the prairie, so no telling how long a dumpy place like this would last. I was anxious. Too anxious.

When I got to Anna I stopped at the Malt Shop, took my shots, and extras, too. It wasn’t until I drove a mile or so down the road and started in on another subject that I realized my camera was still set for indoor shooting from a few days before. I had the ISO cranked up, and the camera manually set for wide aperture and slow speed. In other words everything I’d just shot was completely blown out. I had to drive back and re-take all my photos. I got my shots, but I was distracted and disgusted by my forgetfulness, and I don’t think I was as creative the second time around. I’m now posting a checklist that I’ll see next time I grab my camera.

I salvaged a couple of the blown out photos to keep as a reminder, as they’re not good for much else. They could be photos from a roll of film left in the camera in the back seat of a chrome-finned Chrysler on a too-hot day.

A couple of weeks ago I heard about the unfriendly reception foisted on a stranger who tried to enter one of Anna’s gated communities, but I was a little surprised to find myself confronted in two locations by property owners wanting to know what I was doing. In one case I was shooting a decrepit former tractor store painted an intense green that just looked good against the equally intense blue sky, and in the second case there was a bright orange horse still wearing its Christmas finery, neither one a likely target for terrorists or bandits. In both instances I explained I was “a city girl from Dallas” (true) just gawking at the sights (also true), and that seemed to mollify my inquisitors, if not allay their suspicions. I suppose I should consider adding some camouflage outfits to my wardrobe; maybe a beatup “gimme cap” and a cowgirl belt buckle would do the trick.

Here’s “Nickel”, the Purina mascot, and the object of my attention.