Archive for the ‘Decay’ Category:
Under the Bridge One Time
This bridge is just south of Mankato on the way to Rapidan. It’s now a very nice bike trail that we took advantage of to get in one last ride before the winter hit. It was a beautiful late-October day and we got in about 15 miles of riding with the entire family. This bridge is right by the parking lot – and I think I was standing in the parking lot to take this picture. It’s a faux-HDR processed to bring out some detail.
Vital Stats: Canon 350D w/Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ 50mm ISO 400, f/8.0, 1/50 sec.
Hogwash!
These hog buildings are located down on the family farm near Blue Earth. It’s hard to believe that these are some of the better buildings on the farm. These were a little tough to get to up until recently since the entire area was overgrown until my brother cleared the way.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ 25mm ISO 400, f/3.2, 1/100 sec.
Timber!
I’m really not sure what’s keeping this decrepit smokestack upright. It looks heavy and the guy wires plainly aren’t doing anything. I’m guessing the architects learned everything they needed know know buy studying here. This dying smokestack is in the warehouse district not far from where I work. I took the picture while on a photowalk over lunch on Friday. I noticed that chimney years ago – I’m glad I got a chance to take a picture while it’s still upright.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 24-105mm f/4L @ 105mm ISO 100, f/8, 1/500 sec.
Built to Last
The don’t build ‘em like they used to, do they? This is another view of the railway bridge featured in an earlier shot, The Bridge to Somewhere. The bridge is located just northeast of downtown Minneapolis and leads from Nicollet Island to the Warehouse District. This shot is a study in the interesting parallel lines of the bridge, the converging lines of the perspective, and the cool texture of the post-industrial decay. That’s ‘rust’ to the non-artsy fartsy types.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D /w Canon 70-200 f/4L @ 87mm ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/800 sec.
The End is Near
There isn’t much left of the barn on our family farm. A series of wind storms has pushed the structure to near death – one good gust could finish it off. This is almost a study in negative space – the space where the hayloft should be. The inside of this barn was featured previously in this shot: Just One Windstorm Away.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 @ 32mm ISO 100, f/22, 5 sec.
Just One Windstorm Away
My grandfather was a farmer. Back in those days, farmers were a lot more generalized – and he raised everything from crops to cows and everything in between. As a result, he needed a lot of outbuildings – barns, chicken coops, pig barns, and so forth. This picture is whats left of the cow barn. The opening in the wall at the center of the picture looks in to what used to be the hayloft where we jumped from the loft down into piles of hay as kids. A few years ago a big storm took out most of the building – and there isn’t much keeping this part standing.
This picture is another high dynamic range photo converted into sepia. Three long exposure shots were made with a wide angle lens and the results were blended in Photomatix Pro.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 10-22mm @ 12mm ISO 100, f/22, 10 sec.
Where’s My Mule?
Old farms are photography gold – everywhere you look, there’s some bit of nostalgic decay. Our family farm has been in the family for over a hundred years – but it’s been thirty years since it’s been a working farm. Therefore, everything is busily returning to the earth. When I visited the family farm last summer, I was very excited about making some images. They are probably more nostalgic for me since I grew up visiting Grandpa on the farm – but many from the Midwest should be able to relate.
This is one of my grandfather’s tractors – it’s a McCormick Super M from the early 50′s. For the most part, I don’t really remember this ever getting used. The ‘little tractor’ (the H) got a lot more use. This still runs, but it doesn’t do much beyond hauling brush and stumps.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 10-22mm @10mm, ISO 400, f/3.5 @ 1/20 sec.