After We Left

I originally started this as a mock-up for a fabric piece I was thinking about. However, after adding such a large number of layers I just decided to let it be as a digital collage. I'll print it onto paper, but stitching it is out.

The theme behind this piece is one that I draw from frequently - what happens when humans disappear from a place. The idea that nature will quickly cover over the traces. I find that to be a strangely comforting thought, especially seeing how horribly we have and continue to muck up our environment.

Industrial remains - Ostrava, Czech Republic

I guess I'm in post-pictures-of-empty-places mode. This is a former industrial complex that has been converted to a large concert venue. I attended the Colours of Ostrava two summers ago. Rufus Wainwright, who was performing, talked during his set about how he imagined many people died in this place. I'm sure he was right - it probably manufactured all sorts of nasty chemicals and I can't imagine that there was a strong emphasis on worker safety during the Communist era.

Don't lick the walls.

Wheatridge Grange

This is a film photograph I took in Eastern Washington a couple years ago. I may have posted the original before (though I don't think so). This is a version where I've used filters to "scuff" it up a bit (uh...just a bit). This picture just makes me feel sad when I look at it...completely covered with siding, no windows, abandoned. The only people who see it are the few people that pass by it as they're speeding down the road.

Ghost house Eastern Washington

We found this really beautiful abandoned house in Adams County, Washington last weekend. I call these houses "ghost houses" since they are similar to ghost towns except there's no town surrounding them. Just sad, empty houses whose owners are long gone and probably forgotten. It was ideal since I was able to walk right up to it and get some closer shots.

Abandoned house revisited

A few months ago, I wrote a post that included some pictures of an abandoned house that is located next to the local bicycle trail. Well, today I rode past on my bike and was surprised to see that it had burned down. Oddly enough, there were still flames in the guts of what had been the house, so the house must have just burnt down in the last 24 hours. Crazy! Anyhow, I went back this afternoon to take some photos. Although the flames were gone, I could still hear the crackling of wood so there are still some hot embers in there. Strange times....

As it was

As it is

Gone

Not many things seem quite as forlorn as the remains of a house. This is a stark example of a "lost" home on the Lower Crab Creek Road near Beverly. There was a bit of detritus lying on the ground - a woman's shoe, tin cans, glass, rusty bits of things. Close to this was another foundation but it didn't have as much "structure" as this one did - just a few pieces of cement in a low-lying grid pattern. I don't know what the history of habitation on this road was - no one lives there now as far as I can tell.

Gone

At one point along the road I saw a "ghost house" in the distance, but it was too far away to photograph well. I did find the remains of a bridge but couldn't tell what lay on the other side through the brush.

Bridge remains, Lower Crab Creek Road

There are some farmed fields, birds and plenty of hunters on a November Saturday morning, but it's predominantly an empty, beautiful place.

What is this structure?

We saw two of these structures in central Washington. Both were collapsed in a similar way. One was in Cunningham but it was too dark to photograph. This one was in Starbuck. It had a small opening at the bottom that would allow a person to crawl inside it and it had a bit of hay inside. That's all the information I can give you about it. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks!

Collapsing structure - Starbuck, WA

Empty and uninhabitable

This Thanksgiving holiday we went for a long drive through the Washington scab lands. We clocked in over 700 miles over the course of three days driving from the western side of the Cascades to central Washington and back. I photographed this wreckage of a house in Beverly, which is at the terminus of the Lower Crab Creek Road. More photos to come from this trip (I shot over 200 digital images and around 8 or 9 rolls of film).

Beverly

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

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