Of Killer Rabbits and Fireworks

Over the past four weeks I have been aggressively focused on making new images for Domesticated. This typically involves weekday trips to Matamoras with my intern, Olga, to scout locations and work out the details and then a return trip on the weekend to shoot. The journey to Matamoras is about 200 miles round trip and on a summer weekend it can take upwards of two hours to get out there. I think I have a couple of new winning shots in the bag, but I want to make at least four or five more over the next couple of months.

Every trip to Matamoras is an adventure.

The weekend before last we were shooting with rabbits. What a disaster. Rabbits are little bastards with sharps claws and the predisposition of a meth addict. Don't ever be fooled by their cuddly appearance or their cute names. Little Bunny Froo Froo my ass. A couple of hours and endless rabbit scratches later we called off the shoot.

Actual scene from our rabbit shoot

This past weekend was an experiment with fireworks, a raccoon and trash dumpster. A visit from Matamora's finest and a small dumpster fire forced us to face facts and call it a night. It was almost 9pm at this point and we had been in Matamoras since 1:30pm. We were a little hungry and dubious of food possibilities at that hour, so we set out on a quest for nourishment.

After a short drive down I-84 we found ourselves facing an unholy trinity of theme-restaurant options: Outback, Chili's and T.G.I. Friday's. Typically I don't eat at these restaurants and when I do I feel like I need my stomach and my soul pumped. We rolled the dice and picked T.G.I. Friday's (the only major brand in the US with an implied "God" in the name). As we prepared to enter the front doors we noticed the glowing restaurant sign which suggested the Friday's in the name was not a reference to the day of the week, but some kind of of Dada-esque motivational acronym. Food-Real-Innovative-Drinks-American-You-Service. Genius.

We ate as fast as we could, put on the Black Keys and made the long journey back to the friendly confines of New York.

We will be back at it again next weekend and the weekend after that and the weekend after that...