Another abandoned place

This time it's an abandoned lumber business. Unfortunately, the entire grounds are fenced so the best I could do was to squeeze the camera through an opening and hope for the best. Taken with my Fujica 6x4.5.

Abandoned lumber business

A portrait - Bridget

Bridget - Lubitel camera

Western Washington Fair in Puyallup

Although the Puyallup Fair ended at the end of September, I thought it would be fun to post a couple Lubitel shots I took last year of the park. Though I don't normally print things large, I'm tempted to try to make a really big print of the 2nd image since there's so much going on and tons of color.

Mighty Mouse

Whack

Oddly enough, the Flaming Lips were playing at the fair this year. What a show...I still get high thinking about how great it was. Here are a couple (not very good) shots from the show.

More abandoned houses

Thought I'd upload a couple more abandoned houses. The first is now gone - it's been replaced with an empty field. Back when people lived in the house there were two enormous cedar trees in the front yard. First the trees went. Then the people. Then the house.

Abandoned house - Sumner, WA

This second house is a "ghost house" that I saw in Eastern Oregon. The people are long gone but the house lingers on. This reminds me of the photos of empty houses during the Great Depression.

Ghost house - Eastern Oregon

Slow bike rides in October

Although it wasn't the slowest bike ride I've ever been on, today was pretty pokey-paced. It's autumn in the Puyallup/Sumner/Orting valley (I'm not sure if they're actually all the Puyallup valley) and nature decided that yesterday's deluge was worth a day without rain, so a photographic bike ride seemed like a good idea for a low-key Sunday afternoon. I brought my Mavica 6x4.5 and the Canon G9 in my pack and took a bunch of different rural shots including these shots of an abandoned farmhouse that is slowly being pillaged for its windows, gutters and trim. It's sad to see these older houses stand empty, just waiting for a bulldozer. A few years ago, I met the owner of this house on the trail and he seemed like a nice enough fellow. Who knows what happened - perhaps he died. Maybe he just moved away and no one moved in.

Front of empty house

Side view

Rear view

Aside from the bit of sadness brought on by empty dwellings, I did take some macro shots of snow berries. I especially like that there is another scene "trapped" in the water drops of this image.

Snow berries

Snow berries detail

Sorting

I've been gradually sorting through old photos recently. Attempting to match pictures with negatives (if I can find them) and organizing the negs into labeled sleeves in binders. This has never been an issue with my black and white work since I always put those negatives away. Color work is different since I don't do the developing and I often receive the negs long-sleeved and rolled up after they've been scanned.

Anyhow, the nice thing about going through old photos is occasionally finding little gems that appeal to me now more than they did at the time. Here's a shot I took in Ft. Lauderdale in 2009 (fortunately, I was able to find the negatives so I could scan the original file in and work from that).

Florida phone booth

Iceland "mineral" pile

In keeping with last night's post...another "dirt" pile. I have no idea what this substance was. Perhaps gypsum. It's lovely how the stuff glows against the dark dirt and the stormy looking sky. Dirt piles everywhere, including Hellissandur, Iceland.

Peninsula "dirt" pile

Actually, it's not a dirt pile, it's a gravel pile. I am enamored with dirt, sawdust, gravel, rock, compost, etc. etc. piles that you find along the road. A lot of them are there because they're needed for some sort of road project. Whatever the reason, they bring me weird photographic joy. This one was shot with my Fujica 6x4.5, my new/old favorite landscape camera. "New," because I'm interested in using it again. "Old," because I used to use it an awful lot.

Gravel pile, Olympic Peninsula

Some macros for a rainy day

Spent perhaps too much time indoors today. In addition to some darkroom time, I took some macro shots with the Canon G9 of stuff I had lying around. It might tell you something about my housecleaning habits when you see that I photographed a dead moth, a dead spider and a dying sunflower. They may be dead (or close to it) but they're still photo-worthy.