For the past 13 years, I have had a love affair with photography. I love images that comes with a story. Over the years, I have shot a few images that has a story. Here is part two of a series I call “The Story Behind an Image”.
Part 2: The Bus Stop
Summer of 2008, I was working for a major automotive company in southeast Michigan and the Economic crisis was well under way. The crisis had slowed sell the sale of cars and it was time to save money to get through the rough times ahead and that meant layoffs. The weeks working up to the layoff was some of the worst times I had ever worked anywhere. The level of worry and anxiety seem to be unbearable at times. How many would be let go? Who is safe? Where would go to find work? How long would my money last?
On July 31, 2008, I got the news that I was to be laid off indefinitely. I took some comfort in the fact that the worry and anxiety of it all was over and now it was a matter of figuring out what’s my next step. As an out of work automotive clay sculptor, I knew it was going to be difficult to find work during this time. If cars were not selling, there is no reason to develop new products. And when you’re not developing new product, there is no reason to hire new sculptors. At the time, I did not have a car and relied on public transportation to get back and forth to work, amazingly it worked out well given I lived in Downtown Detroit.
The following days my lay off, I had applied to as many available positions I could find. While not getting feedback from any company I applied to, I was starting to lose hope. Until one day as I was waiting at the bus stop that use to carry me to work. I received a call from what was to become my new job in sunny California. That bus stop is in the image below. On the right side of the image, there is thin sliver of light running down the building. Where that sliver of light hits the ground, there is a light pole which marks the location of my bus stop. The amazing part of the image is that I shot it in April of 2006, over two years before I got the phone call which lead to my next adventure in life. I knew it was a great image but had no idea of the personal importance it had to me and to my future.
