Time… is a critical element of photography.

Not only the time of day… (early mornings are best for me...) but also in that I require rather copious quantities of it to capture images. It takes time to canvas the urban landscape, surrentipitously stalking the elusive gangs of feral covers infesting the cities of North America. Stalking manhole covers takes lots of walks down back alleys in urban areas. Lots of snooping around in parking lots, often in areas where parking is closely watched.

Then there's the experiance of trying to explain to the curious and ill informed why I was poking around behind their business at 7am taking snapshots of their meter covers. I often find that explaining ones own art can be complicated and without reward. More often than not, I choose to take refuge in the dark and solitary fortress of muteness.

I capped this shot of a classic Alamo Iron Works 24” grating wandering around downtown San Marcos early one rainy Saturday morning.