318) You may think I have the world’s easiest job, skipping all over town and posing with mailboxes. Well let me tell you, it’s a lot tougher than it looks. Especially all the record-keeping. For example, I have to make sure each photo is properly logged to the correct address, otherwise I might end up with an embarrassing screw-up. Every now and then, however, I encounter a helpful box that makes my life supremely easy. Just look at this proud fellow. He politely positioned himself so that my photo would be awash with street signs, leaving absolutely no question as to where this photo was taken. A dutiful civil servant, indeed.

305) This is not a happy mailbox. The years it has spent stationed outside the Youth Detention Facility (aka Kid Jail) has left it hardened and bitter. It has seen too much sadness, felt too much pain. Still, it does its civic duty and accepts your mail, just not joyfully.

303) When you see me excitedly pointing at a box, it can only mean one thing… it was a box that was hiding from me, but I found it! Before I head out to capture a box, I try to spot it on Google Street View so I can be sure of its location. Street View, however, can fail me when the box is hidden, such as when it’s tucked away behind a building on an inner-city campus. For times like this, I have to adopt the ways of my ancestral mailbox hunters and actually get out of the car and walk around a bit. Crude, but effective.

288) For today’s entry, I was lucky enough to meet up with my longtime friend Ellen and her (relatively) new pooch Gecko while they were out on walkies. As you can see, Ellen was very happy to be at the mailbox, but Gecko was far more interested in something happening across the street. The box was momentarily concerned that Ellen was trying to mail Gecko.

271) I certainly understand why mailboxes want to cover up the graffiti that gets scribbled on them. Really, I do. But whenever I see a paint job like this, I have to think that living with the graffiti might have been better. Poor guy looks like one of those people who wears way too much foundation on their face and doesn’t feather the edges.

246) Positioned right across the street from the long-running Chop Suey club, I’m sure this box has seen a thing or two over the years. Drunken escapades, belligerent party-goers, boisterous scalawags… it must be quite a show. Try as I might, however, I couldn’t get the box to tell any stories. He just muttered “I’ve seen things, man… I’ve seen things…” and then totally withdrew.

221) I’m helping this box say “Hey, world… here I am!” Positioned just around the corner from the famous Jimi Hendrix statue, this box sees tourist after tourist snapping photos of the bronzed rocker, yet no one ever turns their camera in this direction. Well, dammit, I did.

176) I didn’t spend much time with this box… it had a real attitude problem. I think all the years it has spent on this main thoroughfare between Capitol Hill and downtown has hardened its soul.

169) It’s the same old story… when I’m out scouting mailboxes, I’ll take absolutely any opportunity to grab a quick rest. And why not? I’m scurrying all over this great city celebrating the gallant work of these sturdy mailboxes, and well, it can be somewhat tiring. So here I am catching a few restful moments with this fine box just off of Broadway. Ahhhhh…

151) I’m not entirely sure why, but I really felt the need to keep an eye on this box. There’s just something about that graffiti, something about those radio antennas in the background, something about that stop sign… I just didn’t want to turn my back on this guy for even a second.