Thursday, May 31, 2007

Frank's Place


I strolled up one of the main streets in Pahala photographing the plantation era houses on both sides of the street. Some occupied some deserted. An elderly gentleman spotted me and gestured to me to come closer. He was admiring my camera, I was shooting B&W with my 1950s Ikonta. He said he had one like it years ago. So we "talked story" for a while across the fence. He is 89 years old lived in this house all his life and just got down off the ladder, he is fixing his roof. His wife is 86, she was inside the house I guess. His parents came here in 1910 with the first wave of Filipinos to arrive to work in the cane. He attended school here until the 6th grade then went to work in the fields. He worked his way up to being one of the top mechanics in the mill. He retired at age 65. I was about to ask him if I could take his photograph when a friend arrived to talk to him so I said my good byes. I drove back down this street an hour later with my Pentax K 100D and made this shot. Frank was not around then. I will go back and visit him.

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