Retread

I was out scouring the landscape looking for my next victim when I came across an old and dilapidated truck in a farmers field. After shooting it for a while, an odd looking clump of black lengths of something caught my eye. There were two such piles and located next to the road, 50 metres from where I was working.

 

When I got closer, it was evident there were two bundles of discarded retreads. "Retread tires, sometimes known as recap tires or remolded tires, have undergone a remanufacturing process to replace the worn tread on used tires with new tread." This discarded mess were the actual treads that would be applied to used tires, bringing them back to life.

 

It was also evident a very green leafed weed was growing in and amongst the treads. The image that came to mind was a symbolic one. New growth in the form of a weed was growing in the very thing that was to bring new growth to old tires. It was just too much to pass up on and I spent the rest of the morning finding the right composition.

 

Published in Photography Week magazine issue #515

Done