Mail Me

Excellent in every way!

To we Brits who don't have such things as mail boxes which are apparently in the middle of nowhere almost, this has a quirky touch which I like

A neat take on this rural part of life. For us urban types that have parcels stolen from our porches in broad daylight this scene has a lot to be said for neighborly trust.......I like this one a lot.

The city I live in in California has mailboxes like this along the street with about 5 boxes per post. We walk about 3 houses down for our mail. It's not just a rural thing. So unfortunately this picture has no real draw for me. I don't find it amateurish or insignificant, but it doesn't talk to me at all. Perhaps to people who are unfamiliar to this type of scene, it means more. Jovo tell me what it says to you.

Agree with John.

These are RFD mailboxes. Designated by the USPS as Rural Free Delivery clusters, where the actual delivery addresses may be miles down the private access roads. Before RFD routes farm owners had to drive all the way into town themselves to get their mail deliveries. It was the national Grange organization that was instrumental in the creation of RFD routes. And for rural electrification as well. I believe they also supported the clear channel AM radio protocol for rural listeners. There are still a number of active Grange Halls in my area.

I live on a Rural Free Delivery route, and my box shares in a cluster of three. No one would ever even think to steal from their neighbor, although you might pick up and deliver his mail to his house as a favor. And other than your neighbors, there's generally no one else out there to steal anything.

Mine are not nearly as isolated as these boxes are, but to me an RFD cluster implies solitude. Really, really out in the middle of nowhere. Complete silence. The sound of your heart in your eardrums when you stand perfectly still. And wind rustling in the cheet grass. And bad weather that one can't run away from. It also implies self-reliance. And independence. And freedom. And the ability to breathe. And no one is always looking at or watching you. And you're good with that. And good with all the rest...

I also note that the private access road is protected by a cattle trap. One can drive or walk through that open gate. But cattle will never step through it due to the grating that's embedded in the road across it. This is a rural livestock ranch.

Now you mention the solitude and silence, I sort of get that now. When I first stared at it, it wasn't saying much to me other than the rather interesting colors. And as I said the mailboxes themselves weren't unique in any way. This scene is rather common in CA so nothing unique there either. But the silence IS rather deafening, except for the wind perhaps. Good call on that.

Mailboxes like these are also non existent in the country I grew up. Mail would be delivered by hand or just left at the front door. And since the town I grew up in was small, they would call if you are at the house to receive packages.I was talking to a friend and he says that red is a dominant color in most Nat Geo pictures because it sticks out a lot. I have no idea if that was true but I wanted to try it with this, if the yellow would stick out in the gloomy day.

Michael, I'm drawn to this as a composition, as a wonderfully somber mood, as a sense of the honesty of a community to respect each other's property, and, as Ken observed, as an emanation of solitude. There are no houses visible, nor any indication how far the four box owners have to travel to get their mail, but that road that wanders to the vanishing point evokes significant isolation. Few photographs here conjure up so many feelings (including my own). I just think it's a terrific photograph.

jovo said:

Michael, I'm drawn to this as a composition, as a wonderfully somber mood, as a sense of the honesty of a community to respect each other's property, and, as Ken observed, as an emanation of solitude. There are no houses visible, nor any indication how far the four box owners have to travel to get their mail, but that road that wanders to the vanishing point evokes significant isolation. Few photographs here conjure up so many feelings (including my own). I just think it's a terrific photograph.

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Thanks, jovo. I guess for me, due to the lack of uniqueness of the mailboxes, and of seeing this scene often I don't get the same feelings. There are so many cases of driving down roads here that look like that, and in fact where the houses are often right across the street, out of sight of the camera angle here, that those feeling don't resonate. I think this can happen when we are so used to seeing something, that it becomes so common that it's not relevant to us, and where someone else finds it novel and strange. I do get, and mentioned that, this picture is definitely not "snapshotish", but well handled, but I was curious as to your love of it. Thanks for the reply.