This car brakes for Crossfit-ers

 

Normally I prefer photographing people as opposed to inanimate objects, but I never pass up an opportunity if one presents itself. I got a kick out of this. One day we were all at the gym wondering where Brown was (he's rarely late). Suddenly his friend pops in and says Brown's having car trouble and will be here shortly. When he finally arrives, he runs into the gym, grabs a hex dumbbell, and runs out again. We go out to see what's going on and there he is standing next to this ancient Lincoln Continental with - no shit- fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror. As I'm 'admiring' the whitewall tires, I notice the dumbbell (now a makeshift parking break) wedged under the front tire. Click. That's a keeper.

I cropped the shot nice and close to emphasize the curves of the wheel and the fender. I also tweaked the contrast ever so slightly, but otherwise left it as is. It may look black and white, but that's just because there was very little color in the composition. Mainly I like the shot because it makes me chuckle, but there is also an underlying message here that may not be apparent to the casual observer: for something to be truly useful, it has to be functional under all sorts of environments, from the mundane to the extreme. Much like this free weight, the most functional athletes are those that can perform multiple tasks under wildly different and unexpected circumstances. Warfighters, first responders, and law enforcement officers already know this. The rest of us are just now waking up to that fact. That's what I love about my gym; we strive to reach this goal with every workout we tackle.