Feeding My Passion

I made this photo on 3 March as well, so this catches me up, yay!

Finally got permission from the Merced Fire Department to take photos at one of the stations. While I admit testing and fixing the breathers (the masks they use hooked up to air tanks) isn’t the most exciting stuff to photograph, I wasn’t exactly looking to go out on a call with them, which they wouldn’t have allowed anyway, so I was just happy to have some access to fulfill my 30-day assignment.

Fire captain Tony Giotta shows fireman Matt Alley how to fix a breathing regulator that failed to pass an initial test.

Actually the station call letters are KABX, an oldies station, at 97.5 on your FM dial if you’re in Merced. The DJ Dave Luna, a 27-year radio veteran, is an extremely exuberant guy, far too peppy for so damn early in the morning.

I didn’t get a photo on Monday, so I’m a day behind on the 30-day assignment. This afternoon I’ll post the pictures I took of a radio DJ this morning (7a!), along with the pictures I’m going to take at the main Merced Fire Department. That will catch me up, and then I’ll have another 7 days of photos. Then I’ll do my 1-Day project, do a book report on Loup’s book, pitch my essay, and photograph it!

Oh, I need to get a portfolio together and submit it, but that might be challenging since I’ve moved 11 times (no kidding) since I left Columbia in December 1999, and my photos aren’t as together as they should be for this type of thing. I’ll talk to David about it for some guidance.

Steve Peña changes out a car’s oil and oil and inspects while it’s up on the lift at Caton’s Auto Machine in Merced, Calif.