Cameron, SC – 12.11
On Thursday afternoon I drove back to Cameron to say goodbye to the folks there and film once more in the warehouse as 88 (?) bales of cotton were moved from a warehouse to a truck. I actually forget the exact number, but I do know that approximately 88 bales will fit into a shipping container. Thursday day was very stormy and the rain and wind were just dying down as I arrived at 3:30. The sun was fairly low in the sky as I filmed and so the colors were magnificent– bright reds, yellows and greens of the tarps on the remaining cotton modules, the sunny orange of the Cameron Gin module truck, and the dark blue sky.
Loading only took about half an hour or less; with the remaining time I walked around the gin yard and went inside the gin again, briefly. It was hard to make myself not film; the rhythm and movement of the place is visually and aurally captivating. I said hello to a few of the latino/Texas workers and took another shot or two of their calendar, which has many more days ticked off but two additional days added. If they are lucky they will be home by Christmas. Drake Perrow, the gin owner, indicated with certainty that Cameron Gin as another 10 days of ginning left. As I made my way around the backside of the gin, I caught sight of the seed warehouse– an enormous tin and wood building that I was able to stand inside of last month, but no longer: it was full to all edges, seeds spilling out and over its seams. I took a few more images and then headed towards Savannah as the sun was leaving the sky.