I Was a Bunker Impresario
An interestingly weird episode in a life that’s been full of them
Gather ‘round, kids and I will tell you about the time I took over several abandoned ammunition bunkers in Novato, California. They were part of the Hamilton Air Force Base, and eleven of them formed a ring around a hill whose top had been lopped off and called, unsurprisingly, “Ammo Hill.”
When I first encountered them, less than two miles from my house, they had been abandoned when the base had been de-commissioned in the ‘70s…festooned with graffiti over peeling paint, and in many cases, hidden behind overgrown foliage. I found myself fascinated by them. They had a concrete façade into which had been installed a massive iron padlocked door, painted olive drab. Behind the façade, earth had been piled up so that it looked like a giant berm. The paint was peeling, and the combination of that and the graffiti inspired me to take closeup abstract photos of small segments with interesting colors and textures. With eleven to choose from, I took a LOT of photos.
