Micah

Micah’s descanso is almost hidden off the East side of the road on Highway 97 just outside of Terrebonne, Oregon. He crossed the center line in his Honda Accord and it was no match for the oncoming Ford F150.

He was twenty three.

It’s always difficult for me to put the descanso in context — often it requires shooting them from behind and I am rarely happy with how that looks — but in Micah’s case I was able to get a shot that shows oncoming traffic and provides some sense of “where” this photo was taken.

His memorial is pretty simple but it looked recently visited to me. Micah only died here in 2022 so not that long ago.

One thing that struck me was this tiny drum hanging off the right side of the cross. It’s these little things that get me thinking “what was this person’s life like before it was so quickly ended?”

Unfortunately I suspect I will never know. The Internet is great at reporting on the often grisly details of the accident; it is less good at leading me down a path that shares the life that preceded it.