pianos in the sand

I am currently traveling around the US with an old antique piano, Clayton Austin of Clayton Austin. Love. Stories. (http://claytonaustinlovestories.com/blog/), Jame Churchill of Circus Stories (http://circusstories.squarespace.com/), and Cervesa (Clayton’s dog).  We are in a 36 foot rented RV with a 10 foot trailer containing; a 100 year old piano, an 8 foot ladder, 4 foot ladder, 100 year old piano bench, an old black chandelier, a random green chair, 2 birdcages, an old typewriter, spare tire (we might need that soon – actually since 1st writing this we have used the spare and it is not replaced by a rim that we may have been driving on for a few miles), a dolly (to carry massive, heavy piano), the brass insert to the piano, a few straps and bungee cords, an empty pack of cigarettes and an empty diet coke can… (man there are some random bits in there).

The only thing I regret about this trip so far is that it was not my idea to begin with.  Clayton is a wedding photographer, and a pretty good one.  He did an engagement shoot with a couple and this piano.  Thing just took off.  People kept wanted to shoot with the piano.  So he thought up the crazy idea to take it around the US and shoot in national parks with couples in love.  That is where me and James come in.  Clayton was looking for a couple of dudes to travel with him who had some photo experience.  I shot him an e-mail and the rest is history.

We are on the road, moving and thriving on the American highways.  I feel like we are a band on tour with different giggs in each place that we stop.  I am sure that the rhythm of a band on tour is pretty much like this.  Not much sleep, lots of work and lots of play. (the dog is snoring right now)

So what is it about?  It is seeing one man’s dream come true.  It is being a part of something bigger than yourself.  It is being a part of the creative process that is shooting the same thing in so many different locations.  The other day we came up with the idea of FIRE and ended up lighting the thing on fire without really thinking how we were going to put it out.  Don’t worry, while James was beating it with a towel, I ran around and found our drinking water in the fridge fo the RV.  With the combined effort of dousing and smothering we put it out just in time.  I love the creative process.  I love working with other artist and creating art.  Simply for the sake of ART.

check out the images that are being created at http://claytonaustinlovestories.com/blog/.

below are a few of mine: