Boonville in Lousiville

Drew's Basement, Lousiville, KY, December, 2007

For the last week I have been hiding out in Drew's basement in Louisville, playing darts, drinking, watching movies, and printing and editing the Boonville images. My head is about to explode!

Editing sucks...I'm having a difficult time separating myself from the work and cutting images that I know probably shouldn't make it, but that I am connected to. Life is so hard, I know.

I still have a ways to go before the project is finished and the real editing starts, but it's nice to view all the work laid out and to see the vision unfolding. Plus, Santa Fe is coming up, so I need to chose twenty cohesive images. Pick the best twenty, right? Not as easy as it sounds.

Up Next: Boonville, Indiana

Boonville, Indiana, July, 2007

When I left Brooklyn in July, 2007 to begin this journey, I made my way out to Boonville, Missouri. Boonville, Indiana happened to be on the way, so I stopped for some lunch and took a peak around town. Next week I will make my way to Southern Indiana, and after a stop-over in Louisville, KY, I will head to Boonville, IN!

I'm really excited, and have been thinking about the Indiana stop for awhile. It's my home state and it is the second largest of all six Boonvilles. Back in July, when I arrived in town for lunch, I stopped into Kenny's Pub. Kenny was a true character, full of stories and ideas, I'm really looking forward to seeing him again and to explore another fantastic town. And it sure does feel good to be back in the Midwest!

In Search of America, Part 1

"Rocinante," John Steinbeck's camper, named for Don Quixote's horse.

Recently I was given a copy of John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley: In Search of America, from Kevin and Amy. This book is already shaping up to define the next leg of this trip, and possibly the whole journey. In September I was attached to Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, and in October it was Into The Wild and Walden. Travels With Charley speaks to me just as those books did then, and it often seems as if Steinbeck's trip around the country in 1956, with his trusted dog Charlie, parallels much of my own experiences and thinking.

I haven't gotten through half of the book yet, but almost every page is dog-eared. In 2004, Laura bought me Rilke's Letters To a Young Poet, and it has been by my side on every trip I've been on since then. Travels With Charley seems to be on that same path...

"A trip, a safari, and exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. tour masters, schedules, reservations, brass-bound and inevitable, dash themselves to wreckage on the personality of the trip. Only when this is recognized can the blown-in-the-glass bum relax and go along with it. Only then do the frustrations fall away. In this a journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. I feel better now, having said this, although only those who have experienced it will understand it." --Jon Steinbeck, Travels With Charley: In Search of America, 1962

Home-Cooked Meal, #19

Johnsie & Christina, Chesterton, IN, 2007
Photo: Johnsie Mays

8,001.9 miles for G

The odometer on my car says I have driven 8,001.9 miles since I left Brooklyn for this trip in July of 2007.

In the past, Laura and a few friends have referred to me as an environmentalist. Although I do have a true love for the environment and our impact on it, I am nowhere near an environmentalist. I smoke on occasion, eat meat almost everyday, and I have been driving around the country in a carbon-spewing stink-box-on-wheels filled with plastic and leather for the last four months. The car was loaned to me for free for the project, I couldn't really complain about it. It's not like people with their bio-diesel or hybrid cars were knocking down my door. I took what I could get, and now I must pay for it.

Offsetting your carbon foot-print seems totally backwards to me. It advocates that you can pollute, get off with a slap on the wrist and not have to feel bad about it. But that doesn't fix the problem or promote any kinda of change. I say be conscious of the decisions you make and understand the effects your choices have on your environment. Now that I own a car and rely on it, I realize it's not always easy. I still do the best I can though. I don't buy bottled water, I try my damnedest not to eat fast-food, I only buy locally (If I buy anything at all), and I've even been somewhat good about last year's New Years resolution and have tried not to eat pork. I've been eating Miss Piggy on occasion, but far less then it used to.

So according to climatecrises.net, If I add in my cars make and model, I have produced just under four tons of carbon since leaving Brklyn. According to them, I should give $50 to support eco-friendly causes. I've chosen to buy $50 worth of trees (that's 50 trees) and plant them in honor of my Grandfather, Bob, or as I always referred to him, G, or G'Pa.


(center) G'ma and G'pa, Prom, 1948

G was always amazingly supportive of anything I wanted to do. He was like my best friend, and was always there if I needed something. I loved him more then anything, and it still hurts to see photos of him in the house and to know I am currently sitting twenty feet away from where he passed. Because of finances and living in NY, I had not seen my Grandpa for a while. I was three days away from visiting him here in Indiana, when he suddenly died in 2004. This was going to be the first time we could have shared a beer together, something we were both really looking forward to. He even went out and bought us a case of Bud for the occasion.

The night of his passing I walked into a little pub across from where I lived on 8th ave, and bought two beers and laid out an image of him on the bar. Although I thought about leaving one untouched, he would have thought it to be wasteful, so I downed them both, and got on a plane the next day for his funeral. I never saw my grandfather without a smile on his face, he was truly an inspiration and I am very happy to say that he would have loved seeing me on this journey, and I know he would have been my greatest supporter. These miles, even thought they are filled with dirty carbon, are most definitely for him.

Chesterton, Indiana

Lustron House, Chesterton Indiana
Photo: HABS, Library of Congress

Yesterday I arrived to my hometown of Chesterton. It's great to be home, but now what do I do? I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs, trying to relax. Not happening. I know two people that still live here but work in Chicago daily. My Grandma is home from Flordia, which is really fantastic, but I can't sit still long enough to have a conversation with her. I need to keep moving, but I can't figure out where to go, and all I want to do is relax. Damn! OK, Tim...relax, just relax, now breath, just breath, goooood, keep breathing, slower, nice, very nice...NOW PUSH!!! Damn it...

Tip of the day: Google Alert

Currently at another rest area on RT 90 in NY. Too much coffee equals lots of rest stops.

Recently, because of the online interview at exposurecompensation.com, my name and work have popped up on a number of different blogs. Many of which I would have never seen without the fantastic Google Alert.

About a year ago I found the beauty of this service. Simply enter your name, a phrase, or word, and any time it pops up on the World Wide Web, Google sends you an email with a link to the article, etc.

Google sends me an email any time these words pop up: "Timothy Briner," "Tim Briner," "timothybriner.com," "Boonville," "BoonvilleUSA," and "Boonville USA." It may not be as much fun as randomly searching for your name on Google once a month, but it is very accurate, and instant. This also keeps me in the loop whenever something pops up about any of the six Boonvilles. Which is about everyday.

"Boonville" alerts have included: Scientist Examines Civil War Battle Site, Child drowns, Boonville Little League Team Loses World Series, Man Drowns, Ghost Hunters to Examine Historic Hulbert House, Boonville Hotel Opens, Meth Lab Busted, etc.

It's great for photographers and artists or anyone who is curious about random people stalking them.

P.S. I just got a Google Alert about my post on Google Alerts.

Thanksgiving and beyond

Thanksgiving Dinner, Lee, MA, 2007

Yesterday I spent Thanksgiving with Laura, her parents and some friends in Lee, MA. The day before I was visiting Drew and his family in Connecticut and I am now at a rest area on RT 90 in NY.

Before heading out I jumped up to Turners Falls, MA to visit George at Hallmark, a supporter of the project. Currently, I'm on my way to visit family and friends in NW Indiana and Chicago. I then head to a family reunion in Michigan, visit Tom, and then head down to spend a few days with Drew at his home and "Lab" in Louisville, KY. We will go over all the images that I have created from Boonville thus far, make some work prints, and I will focus on my next step. In early December I will arrive in Boonville, Indiana to continue my journey.

The next week or two will be full of work, but I plan on finding a few days here and there to do absolutely nothing! Although I am ready for the break, I am really excited to continue on to Indiana. I feel good about my current position in this project: I'm confident in myself, my ideas, and the work. It will feel nice to have a break, but I'm already gearing up for more!

Boonville Soap Box: Black Friday

Today is the Day After Thanksgiving, or Black Friday, or even more recently, Buy Nothing Day.

The holidays are right around the corner, and the crazies are coming out to play. Do you really need to purchase something? Maybe not, but most likely yes. So try and consider your options. look for items that are marked "Fair Trade." Think about the steps that go into your purchase. Where was it made? Can you support locally grown or made products? If not, consider how far it has to travel; Did it travel to you by ground or air? Most of us already know the problems and impact that air travel has on the environment, but do you consider where your food and clothes come from?

Small steps are big steps. Purchase used items, support the local second-hand store. Or, try and buy items that make people think. Last year I bought two hundred trees for four different people, and had them planted in their name. There are plenty of interesting and even tangible things that can be given, and still make someone very happy and make them think at the same time. My girlfriend recently bought us a wind-up radio for the kitchen. Winding the crank for 90 seconds charges the battery and gives you 20 minutes of listening time.

A few simple tips. If you go shopping, don't carry the items out in a plastic bag, plastic BAD! Simply carry them out, or even better, if you know you're going to shop, take your own bag! Shopping online sounds good, but depending on how many places you buy from, that many places are shipping things to your door, possibly by plane.

Go to this website for great Eco-friendly gift ideas for the holiday. Treehugger.com: Holiday list 2006 and Holiday list 2007.

Off of my box for now... Happy Buy Nothing Day!

Inspired by NotIfButWhen/2

Interview

Last week, Miguel Garcia-Guzman from exposurecompensation.com, a blog about photography, interviewed me about my career in photography and the Boonville project. It's colossal, meaning 14 pages long! It has gotten a great response. Read the full article here.

"A young photographer breaking his path in fine art photography. His vision, his dreams, the challenges, the inspiration.

I had the opportunity to interview photographer Timothy Briner, and he shared a candid view of his work, projects and struggles as a young photographer.

After several personal projects and a brief exploration of commercial photography, Tim is now embarked in a project, Boonville, that intends to explore “small-town” America, its people and its cultural diversity across states. But this project is not only a journey through America but a discovery of his own path.

The Boonville project is a a year-long cross-country journey to six different towns named Boonvilles across the United States. Timothy will be living with families and individuals during his thirty-plus days in each town. The final product will take images from the six communities, juxtaposing them together to create a fictional town named 'Boonville.' " --Miguel Garcia-Guzman

Continue reading HERE.