Holland, MN
Vintage truck, medium format film, Kodak Portra 800, Holland, MN
The first part of this year has been false Springs, lingering winters & the suspicion that spring may not be staying around this year. My photography output seems to follow the weather. This winter, per usual, saw a major decline in how many rolls I ran through my camera. I ventured into MN and explored the small town of Holland. I actually lived there for a year as a kid. My dad was a pastor and had a small church in town that he was assigned as part of his seminarian internship.
Ken’s Korner Pub, medium format film, Kodak Portra 800, Holland, MN
The streets I used to endlessly navigate on my red & yellow Schwinn now felt tired & forgotten. Main Street had a small general store my sister and I would frequent & buy candy. The semi-rootbeer flavor of "Bottle Caps Candy." A chalky & poor approximate of rootbeer flavor would dissolve in your mouth leaving a pasty & sugary aftertaste for hours. Many of the old brick buildings are no longer there. The old bank is now a bar while the old bar is now gone & replaced by a large metal shed.
Mainstreet Post Office, medium format film, Kodak Portra 800, Holland, MN
While wandering the snowy streets with my camera I couldn't remember where the parsonage was. As a kid the basement of the ranch style house was unfinished. I had a remote control car that I would race around on the smooth basement floor trying to ramp off of books I swiped from a box labeled "office". I also recall one instance when my mom's sister, her husband & my two older (& cooler) cousins were coming to visit from Michigan. I was so excited. I waited by the intersection for an hour on my aforementioned Schwinn. They finally arrived and my uncle said we could race back to the house. Chevy Van vs. my legs. I led the way, pedaling my heart out… It felt like the bumper of his van was bearing down on my rear tire. I rounded the corner on the curved dirt road and I lost traction and wiped out. My uncle slammed the brakes. As I picked myself up, embarrassed, I confirmed I was ok, swallowed my pride and led them back the rest of the way at a normal pace. I remember feeling really embarrassed.
Medium format film, Kodak Portra 800, Holland, MN
The morning photo walk ended by getting yelled at by an old man. He stood on the small snowy deck attached to his double-wide. Suspicious that I was up to no good, his silver hair blew in the chilly wind. I wished him a good day as he yelled on. I walked two blocks before he stopped & reluctantly went back inside. His face bearing the resemblance of a satisfied dog, proud for barking a squirrel off the fence line.
