As my ten month time-lapse project begins to wind down, I’m satisfied with the way I’ve honored the contributions of the fine people who’ve been working at The Huntington on the rejuvenation of the Asian Garden. These workers do strenuous manual labor: digging, mulching, watering, planting, etc., in all kinds of weather and always starting first thing in the morning. Six days a week.

And as far as I’ve witnessed, they do it with pride, professionalism and camaraderie. I like hanging out with these guys because they are know a lot about gardening, are friendly and support what I’m doing with multiple cameras, sometimes set in places they have to work around to avoid jostling. I really appreciate their efforts on my behalf.

My gift to them are the portraits I’ve been making periodically. I made these yesterday. The lead image for this post was taken at 8am and the one below was made at 3pm.

This morning I handed out seven envelopes with these two prints inside. There were surprised and grateful. We shared a few laughs at how they appeared at both ends of a typical day for them: fresh in the morning and a bit bedraggled at the end. This is a rare experience for them and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to honor them this way.

Thanks for reading.

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