Coal Town USA

Here's a funny story: on my second day I'm at a gas station in a little town on "coal heritage route" when a guy in camouflage and with tattoos and piercings pulls up in his big truck. His left hand is covered by a tattoo that says "Kuntry Boy" (sic), flanked by deer horns, which looks amazing! Before I can ask whether I can make a picture of him and his tattoo he looks at me and says "Hey, wanna go have a beer in the local titty bar? Nothing else to do around here anyway." I follow him and we have a really fun night in this bar, where everyone knows each other (incl the stripper who is just a nice local girl). When we got out, I was so drunk that I completely forgot to ask for their names and if I can take pictures -- the reason why I went there in the first place! Ah well, at least I know where to find them when I go back ... 😀

P.S.: Don't tell my wife ... it was all just for the sake of photography, no really!
 
giganova said:
Here's a funny story: on my second day I'm at a gas station in a little town on "coal heritage route" when a guy in camouflage and with tattoos and piercings pulls up in his big truck. His left hand is covered by a tattoo that says "Kuntry Boy" (sic), flanked by deer horns, which looks amazing! Before I can ask whether I can make a picture of him and his tattoo he looks at me and says "Hey, wanna go have a beer in the local titty bar? Nothing else to do around here anyway." I follow him and we have a really fun night in this bar, where everyone knows each other (incl the stripper who is just a nice local girl). When we got out, I was so drunk that I completely forgot to ask for their names and if I can take pictures -- the reason why I went there in the first place! Ah well, at least I know where to find them when I go back ... 😀

P.S.: Don't tell my wife ... it was all just for the sake of photography, no really!
Click to expand...

Now that will have to be further documented! A good start on a continuing story, maybe a book is in the future. Hope none of my directions got you lost on the way.

PF
 
Hi PF and thanks for checking in! I found the coal bunker right away, thanks for the directions! This one's for you:

2016-05-26-0005_2.jpg


2016-05-26-0003_2.jpg
 
This post made me think of the John Denver song ...... 'Country Road'

Almost heaven, West Virginia,
Blue ridge mountain, Shenandoah river,
Life is old there, older than the trees,
Younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze
 
I just returned from another 5-day trip to the coal towns in West Virginia. So far I've been driving 2,500 miles for this project! 😎

This time I made a lot of close personal connections with the coal miners families. They invited me to a veterans fund raiser, let me ride with their local ambulance and fire truck 😀 and invited me to their homes. I had a blast!

2016-06-05-0004_2.jpg


2016-06-05-0001_2.jpg
 
I think I found Anthony Hopkins twin brother -- in a coal mine!
2016-06-06-0053_2.jpg


Woodrow recently retired from working in the mine for 42 years. Now he spends all his day sitting in front of the gas station, cracking jokes. "I was so scared when I went into the mine for the first time. But every job is dangerous. Some people fall off the chair in the office!" 😀
2016-06-06-0047_2.jpg


Anyone see a cat in this photo?
2016-06-06-0026_2.jpg


2016-06-06-0033_2.jpg
 
Don't know how I missed this thread - very nice work, love the pictures!
PS great portrait of Woodrow, and of the kids on the porch.
regards,
 
I was looking at the wrong photo for the cat! But that was my mistake.

The Longdale bunker looks quite different with all the vegetation grown up. I'm glad you've been able to expand on your original venture into West By God. You opened some doors with your first trip, and now you can really delve into the lives of those most affected by the changing industrial landscape. Keep it going!

PF
 
Quick update:

Last week I returned from my 3rd trip to McDowell County in West Virginia. I spent a total of three weeks there, drove 4,000+ miles for the project and took 1,700 photos to date. Here are some from the most recent trip:

Coal miner family:
2016-09-04-0022_2_800.jpg

The above picture took me on an emotional roller coaster ride: I sent 1/2 hour listening and talking to the mom, another 1/2 hr taking pictures. When I returned the next day to ask her for her address to send her pictures, she didn't remember me and had no clue who I was!? How is this possible? Drugs?

2016-09-04-0007_2_800.jpg


2016-09-04-0013_2_800.jpg


These two (incredibly nice & funny!) coal miners were best buddies and they insisted that I could only take pictures of them together:
2016-09-04-0015_2_800.jpg
 
Ku Klux Klan members! Father with his two sons. The father was the most hateful person I have ever met in my life. Can't repeat here what he said about President Obama (would get me banned from RFF!). He kept saying that Obama was a Muslin who wants to destroy the USA. When I asked him how he knew that Obama was a Muslim, he said "Because I said so." No point arguing.

When a Geico insurance car drove past, the guy jumped out of his chair, raised his fist into the air and shouted as loud as he could "F%$#@ gecko! I hope a snake will bite your f%$#$@ head off!". Yes, he was shouting profanities at a cartoon character on the side of a car. All I could think of was "I NEED pictures of them in their silly robes and hoods, with a burning cross in the background!!" but decided that I don't want to spend any more time with these people, so I left.

2016-09-04-0025_2_800.jpg
 
Vintage printing press of the local newspaper. I was amazed how they print the newspaper: first, they print out the individual newspaper articles on a vintage Mac and an inkjet printer. Then they glue the articles together to form an entire newspaper page. Then they make a picture of the assembled pages with a camera that has 2 feet x 2 feet negatives!! They develop the negatives, mount them in a machine on top of an aluminum plate and expose the plate to UV light, then "expose" the positive image on the plate with chemicals. Next, they crimp the sides of the aluminum plate, mount them in this gigantic printing press and start the press under an enormous noise level.

2016-09-04-0033_2_800.jpg


Newspaper archive, dating back 100 years or so:
2016-09-04-0032_2_800.jpg
 
I happened to be there when the historic War Hotel burned to the ground:
2016-09-07-0013_2_800.jpg


2016-09-07-0012_2_800.jpg


Pool in front of an abandoned home. I came back to this home a few times every day for a full week, hoping that I would find kids in the pool, but no such luck. 🙁
2016-09-08-0004_2_800.jpg
 
Entrances to coal mines. Getting there was only possible with my brand new Jeep that I specifically bought for this trip. How do you find a coal mine? You simply follow signs "Ambulance entrance", aaaaaalll the way up into the mountains. When the pavement ended and the terrain became incredibly rugged and rocky, I had to put my Jeep into 4WD and crawl up the mountain -- sometimes for a full hour -- until I found locked gates. Had to sweet-talk myself past security and there it was: a hole in the mountain!

2016-09-04-0002_2_800.jpg


2016-09-08-0016_2_800.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom