max s. gerber(the latest shot)

a few more stragglers from shoots at the end of 2007. i was in san diego on two separate occasions, for different publications. i was there first to shoot the goodwins, whose home had been destroyed in the witch hill/san diego wildfires in october. their house was in a quiet residential neighborhood and it was very bizarre, as you’d drive down the street and see lots where the houses had been totally and completely burned away right next to and up against houses that look entirely untouched. it all seemed very random, which way the fires went, which way the wind blew. john goodwin told me that it was only a period of about fifteen minutes from the time they first saw the fire to the time the home was completely destroyed. it’s amazing how fast things can change.

i drove down the street a bit and started talking to jerome. he wasn’t one of the subjects i was supposed to cover for the assignment, but he let me photograph him anyway. given all he had been through he had a phenomenally good attitude. he told me that he had just gotten a divorce the month before the fires and his ex-wife was trying to take the house. he said he was trying to get as low an appraisal on the property as he could so his ex couldn’t take so much. he swung his arms around gesturing to the burnt out lot and said with a big smile, “i got my appraisal now!” he’s standing here in what used to be the entryway to his house. i guess at a certain point all you can do is laugh about it. anyway, thanks, jerome, for taking the time to talk to me.

the third picture is of leon santoro, the manager of the orfila winery. their vineyard narrowly escaped serious fire damage, mostly due to the fact that they rented some space to an independent farmer who grew tomatoes and it seemed like his tomato farm took the brunt of the heat. maybe all the water in the tomatoes stopped the fire? parts of the orfila vineyards were burnt, but nowhere near how it could’ve gone. leon was very amicable and even gave us several bottles of wine. thanks, leon. glad everything’s okay over there. thanks also to corporal bennett for helping out.