Thursday, October 1, 2009

A Sign of the Times

20090929_sign

Bill Busch is dressed in a fresh pair of slacks, a finely starched white shirt with a gold Cross pocket pen and red power tie. He looks like he's heading into the office. Instead, I photograph him standing on one of the busiest street corners in Longmont - with a sign.

See, Bill Busch doesn't want a handout. He wants a job.

Sounds simple enough, right? But, for the 58-year-old professional who was laid off on Feb. 17, 2009, wanting a job and getting a job are a bit farther apart than he would like.

"It's getting down to crunch time," Busch says over the traffic noise.

There's desperate and then there's creative. Busch prefers creative. For this I am compelled to respect him. And, I'm sure to the thousands of drivers who passed him on this particular Tuesday the act looked desperate. But, they didn't stop to ask did they? It's a hard question to ask. I know, because I stopped to ask. Don't judge the book by a cover, for inside a desperate looking action just may be creative.

“I know the supply chain from start to finish,” says Busch. “Basically from the raw materials through manufacturing to the finished product in your hand.”

Who knows, someday soon I may be holding a similar sign saying: "I know the news photography business from start to finish..."

1 comments:

Gino Siller said...

Great image. Great Story. Its amazing how life has changed for so many people. Hope your doing great, we'll have to get together sometime soon.