More Pickup Lines

"In A Mellotone," a great 1939 Ellington tune, is also what I'm striving for today, on doctor's orders.

So without further ado, let's return to the subject this blog began with back in March.

Pickup trucks.

I've never driven one, have no use for one, but for some reason they have always fascinated me.

When I was a kid, my Uncle Abe (who wasn't my uncle but was a relative and that's what the family called him) had a big round-fendered pickup truck that he let us climb on and sit in.

Why did Abe Rogovin have a pickup truck? He was a carpenter. To this day, I don't think I've met another Jewish carpenter, at least one who made it his career.

Uncle Abe wore plaid work shirts and coveralls and smoked a pipe. He was very sweet and funny, and he was also a very good carpenter. He's retired now, but he's still chipper and lives up to his unabridged family nickname, Loveable Uncle Abe.

So maybe it all began in the orderly bed of Uncle Abe's truck.

In any event, I spotted this truck in Montclair. On a cloudy day, in front of a busy background of drab colors,  it might not have stopped  me at all. This picture is as much about color and form as it is about pickup trucks.

To paraphrase Vince Lombardi, in photography context isn't everything, it's the only thing.

Not quite, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to quote one of this year's first class of inductees into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Tags: Montclair | photography

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