The Final Catlin Gabel Rummage Sale

For the past 65 five years, the Catlin Gabel school has urged community members to look through their garages and basements for things to donate to an annual rummage sale for the school's financial aid fund. Drawing thousands of shoppers from around the Portland area and generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, the Catlin Rummage Sale was a fixture in the local landscape. In early September, I received an email from the school announcing the end to a tradition beloved by members of the community and avid rummage shoppers alike.

An old cardboard box with a section of binding twine is a tradition at the Rummage Sale.

Over the seven years that I attended Catlin, sixth grade on, I built a strong association with the rummage sale, fall and school. To me, the rummage sale was as much a part of my school routine as buying my books in early September or speeding out of the school parking lot in early June listening to Alice Cooper.

As the Maine nights grew crisp and I attended the last autumn classes of my life, I yearned for the piles of clothes and old ski equipment of the rummage sale. I soon set forth on a war path to rationalize making the 3,000 mile journey back to Portland for a long weekend. Eventually, I called my parents and announced my return. The first inkling of my affinity for antiques and clothes had surfaced at Rummage years ago, there would never be another, and I hadn't been home in 11 months....

During the last two weeks of October the school comes to a screeching halt as students, teachers, and parents go out for pick ups, sorting drop offs and transporting the "rummage" from Catlin's West Hills location to the Portland Expo Center. In a flurry of collapsible tables and over-anxious type A parents, sale preparations culminate in the opening of the doors to parents, alums, and volunteers on Thursday at 3 PM for the presale.

I showed up at 2:45 and eagerly awaited my chance to peruse the collection of more than a quarter of a million dollars worth of donated rummage. Anyone see my brother in back? I will give you a hint, he's 6'7"...

At 3PM sharp I was off to the races. Dragging my box and awkwardly snapping pictures, I scuttled to and from large collapsible tables labeled with large plastic hanging signs leaving a wake of unfolded clothes and overturned hiking boots.

Mr. Tucker sorting through piles of shirts for a gem.

A view of the chaos. Dre.

The presale ran from three to five, after that the gates opened and the masses rushed various sections of the sale like the running of the bulls in Pamplona. In those two hours I ran around searching through piles of shirts, old license plates, tools, and boots, all the time filling my cardboard box with my bounty. It was everything I hoped it would be.

Here are some more links,
The Final Catlin Gabel Rummage Sale (Picasa),
Catlin Gabel Rummage Sale.

Rain, Sun and House-Sized Waves

In a jet lagged daze I lay in the bed after waking up at 5am Northwest time, (8am Maine time), eating breakfast and then falling back to sleep. Despite being 3,000 miles from my typical place of slumber, I reached over to my iPhone in my standard morning routine and flicked through the apps. After reading my emails and Twitter, I eventually thumbed the Magic Seaweed application out of desperation to rationalize staying in bed for a few more minutes.

Instantly I jumped up from my semi-catatonic slumber into a state of hysteria. As an enthusiastic rider of Maine waves, I check Magic Seaweed daily and usually see numbers an order of magnitude smaller than the ones I was looking at for the Oregon coast. Like a six year old on Christmas morning I rushed down the stairs, grabbed my camera, car keys, and a wool jacket and headed to the Portland Airport to pick up my dad and then head to the coast in search of waves and rain.

An hour and a half later, I hopped out of my dad's 4Runner and scurried towards the lookout like a kid at the ball pit at McDonald's.

It was windy.

The last scene of Point Break was filmed at this beach. "We'll get him when he comes back in!" It sure looked like Bodhi's 50-year storm last weekend.

keep me honest.

After two hours of rain and wind the clouds finally broke and for fifteen minutes. My dad and I watched waves roll in and thunderstorm cells lurk closer.

From 300 feet up and roughly half a mile away these waves looked more like an avalanche on the Discovery channel than things people ride for fun.

We headed back to the car as the drops of rain fell on our backs. As soon as we got in the car and cranked on the heater, large hailstones started pinging off of the windshield. Our timing couldn't have been better.

Here are some more links,
Rain, Sun and House Sized Waves (Picasa),
Rain, Sun and House Sized Waves (Vimeo).

A Walk in the Woods

I get restless and bored. I guess it's a product of some learning disorder diagnosed by a balding, silver Porsche Boxster (not the S of course) driving 52 year-old, or maybe it's just my personality. On Sunday I woke up to a beautiful, dry fall day and felt a yearning to go explore.

After five minutes of deliberation, my roommate and always eager partner in crime, Dan, and I set off for the Belgrade Lakes to hike the in the Kennebec Highlands Nature Reserve.

Two weeks ago, the autumn leaf canopy shielded the forest from the rain, wind and sunlight. Now it carpets the floor making trails impossible to follow, unless you're Billy from Predator. Early on, Dan and I scrapped the idea of following the well hidden trail and set out directly for the top of a hill through the thick Maine woods.

For an hour and a half, Dan and I trudged through the leaf covered woods listening to the crackling under our feet and the dry wind whistling through the stubborn leaves in the upper canopy.

Crackle...crackle...crackle...

I found this vintage Eddie Bauer down jacket on one of my weekly visits to my local Goodwill. Gotta represent the Northwest.

Hiking through the Maine woods put a smile on my face.

Here are some more links,
A Walk in the Woods (Picasa).

Inspiration Wall at the L.L. Bean Signature Event

A few weeks ago, I made the trek down from Maine to New York City for the L.L. Bean Signature event. For the last two months, I had been looking through books, magazines, image collections and catalogs for a wide variety of images that captured the complexity of the L.L. Bean brand. For my research I focused on images from spring outdoor activities like fishing, camping and sailing that fit within Bean's sensibility. The end product was 22 feet by 9 feet high

Here are some select images from my search which appeared on the inspiration wall.

This is one of the most amazing images I have seen.

Hands down my favorite L.L. Bean Cover.

Bean has a long heritage of selling outdoor gear like fishing and hunting equipment and I tried to have some product-focused shots in the mix.

I prefer getting out and searching through books and image collections because the end product is far more unique than images you would find online.

I snuck two of my own photos into the collage...whooops :)

I like doing image research because it challenges you to get in the minds of people whose world you are trying to recreate and tell their story through a handful of 2D images. For example, to find camping/hiking images from the 60's of young men and women I looked through hundreds of New England Colleges' outdoor club sections in yearbooks from the late 50's to early 60's. Image research is akin to hunting; in order to find the best stuff, you have to go farther and dig deeper than other hunters.

Thanks Marc Desrosiers of the L.L. Bean Signature team for coming up with the layout and to Alex Carleton for getting me into the project, editing the images and the creative direction.

Here are some more links,
Inspiration Wall at the LL Bean Signature Event (Picasa),
L.L. Bean Signature,
L.L. Bean PR (Twitter).