Building from Scratch: In the Business of Helping People

Though Jim doesn't have full use of his hands it often stays late to work on his own

Jim is fixing one of the cylinders for a scooter that was brought in

Jonny helped Jim a lot of on the chair for Oscar that he could not do himself

At home Jim and his wife Lilia have their two dogs and rabbit to keep them company

Ten years ago Jim Bucher started the company Quadra Tek on the Ventura Avenue in Ventura, Calif. He originally was working out of the garage near his house that he purchased from a family friend – but the neighbors were complaining about the noise. The goal of Bucher's shop is to help other disabled people by repairing their mobile scooters, wheel chairs, car lifts, and by installing various lifts for customers. Currently he has three other employees to help him take on the work load. One person covers the front desk and two or more men help in the shop with the welding, repairing, and installing of various parts that Bucher cannot do on his own.

In the 1970's when Bucher was 17 he jumped into a lake head first and broke his neck. One of his friends and his sister noticed he had not come back from the lake and pulled him to shore just before he blacked out completely. They held him on the shore until the paramedics could be reached assist them. Since then he has been paralyzed from the waist down and lost many functions of his hands. After months in the hospital recovering he was determined to keep as active as he could be; most often by racing in his wheel chair, rugby, basketball, and teaching others the sports that can be played in a wheel chair. From his drive to be independent and resourceful he started to build and repair things. Fueling his need to start something from scratch.

Jim Bucher recently finished a personal project for his former student in basketball of fifteen years Oscar Magallanes. Magallanes now mentors younger people in basketball and plays in various tournaments himself. He cannot afford to buy a new chair and Bucher decided to create one especially for him from scratch and free of charge. Bucher can no longer particpate in the events him self due to shoulder injuries and stresses.

With the stock market and finances for everyone in a flux, Jim Bucher does not know how much longer he is going to be running Quadra Tek. He already has one employee coming in only three times a week; and he is operating at 50% of what he usually is at for this time of year. His wife Lilia Bucher is currently working three jobs to help pay the mortgage. Bucher is quite worried on how they will make it through this coming winter.

During the few weeks I spent with Jim I grew to know him as a person. He is amazing to continue through what all of his troubles. During my one of my final shooting days with him Lilia invited me over to have dinner with them on her birthday and told me I couldn't go home without taking some more BBQ chicken and her excellent flan.

When I get back to California after my trip in India Holly, his sister and my former landlord, and I want to try use these pictures to help him gather government funding to keep Quadra Tek up and running.

Life in America Edit

After I received some in class constructive criticism I wanted to re-edit my Life in America project. Some of the things I fixed is the transitions, image glitches, and the fading out of the sound at the end. One idea Clayton mentioned is having nature and industry on separate sides of the screen; I wanted to emphasize that more and tried to do so by keeping them separate.

There are still things I would like to try and work with for this project. Better and longer time lapses to better imitate Baraka, and the use of a tripod. The only times I used a tripod for the 10 shoots is at Two Trees. Somewhere along the way I could like to try do this project again on my own time. This would mean with an timer and those run for about $135 at the cheapest.

Here embedded in the blog is the medium format video:

Online Videos by Veoh.com

The large format can be seen here:
Life In America Large Format

Life in America

This is my Life in America Multi-Media project. My first major multi-media and I am quite pleased with it. The idea that I had is mind is how life is a giant dance that is connected with everything.

Photos: Joshua J. Anahonak ©2008
Music: Pamyua "Unuganga" ©2008

MVP Haircuts

MVP Haircuts has been in operation in Ventura, CA since August 2007. For my Person at Work assignment I chose to photograph Lorraine Villasenor on May 25, 2008. Lorraine has worked at MVP since December and since received a dedicated clientèle. Matthew Durkin (top picture) found MVP in August soon after the opening and continues to come back every month to get a trim.

Al Rodriguez is very picky with how his hair gets cut - he does not like it when hair dressers listen to how he wants his hair cut and does not listen to him. Al's previous hair dresser cut his hair for seven years, and bounced around before he found MVP in April. Lorraine is the only person he allows to cut his hair now, and goes back to MVP ever two to three weeks for a trim (bottom two pictures).

First Annual Chumash Pow-wow

Mike, Mia, and I went to shoot some assignments at the First Annual Chumash Interpretive Center and Museum was hosted in Thousand Oaks, CA on May 19 and 20, 2008. This was my first pow-wow that I have been too that wasn't through 120 Drums of Thunder - and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It has been so long since I have danced of any kind that the drum called my blood, but I could not respond. The coordinator had told us from the beginning that no one that was not dancing could not enter the circle. Maybe another time I will tell them that I have felt the calling to dance the Grass Dance.

The first picture is five Veterans dancing the Warrior Gourd Dance. The dance is left only to Veterans that have served in a war. Formerly it was known as the Ghost Dance and was outlawed for a period of time. It was slowly danced in hidden groups and became more popular. Now I believe it is universally danced across the nation by those that chose too.

Susan Jackson presents a very strong Fancy Shawl Dancer. I have a couple time lapses of her dancing, and this is one of the stills that I chose because of the power of her stance and the movement of the fringe. She has been dancing since she was four years old.

Kathy Peltier and Randy Guzman-Folkes have been chosen to be the Headman and Headwoman. They were honored with a dance solely for them. After a round the rest of the group was given a chance to dance with them for their honor.

Sadly, I do not know this woman's name. Her poise and presence exudes very strongly a rightful regalness. That is the only way I could describe it. Our eyes made contact and there was a lot of strength in her gaze.

This is Tyla Va'ai-LeTourmeau, another Fancy Shawl Dancer. I liked this picture because of the way she stood during a song break. It felt somehow iconic. Here she looks posed and slightly mournful. Behind that facade hides an iron strength.

Finally, here is Mike presetting the camera before they shoot some footage the first day of the pow-wow. Overall it was a very fun experience. At this time I am planning to find a way to attend another pow-wow up in Bakersfield at the college the weekend of June the 6th. Mike and Mia used some of my stills in the documentary on the museum's curators that they filmed when I was shooting.

Joshua J. Anahonak ©2008