Cabezon Peak, a bike, and a Bud Light can. Photo by Kevin Carns

My friend and former student Kevin Carns is a truly gifted Bud Light can photographer. Cabezon Peak, the bike, the can – a compositional masterpiece.

Some years ago when we were out riding, my friend Scot pointed out that the empties we saw a long the roadside were almost invariably Bud Lights. So we began documenting them. The resulting Twitter photo essay is but a sampling. If we stopped to photograph every single one, we’d rarely get past the first few miles of a ride.

While it has been suggested that it would be a service to pick them up after photographing, that would conflict with the prime directive of Bud Light can photography – do not touch the Bud Light can. Plus how would I carry them? I’m on a bike!

Over time, friends have begun sharing their own Bud Light cans, which I’ve happily added to the growing Twitter thread. We’ve seen them from as far away as Jeff Kightlinger’s entry from Oxford, Mississippi.

Cabezon Peak is a landmark here, an old volcanic neck out along the Rio Puerco west of Albuquerque, so largely statuesque that you can see if from many miles away if the angle’s right. Kevin seemed surprised when I suggested the above was my favorite of the genre –  “any semblance of masterpiece is by pure accident, it was the end of a long ride and I snapped a quick pic.”

The humility of a truly gifted Bud Light can photographer.