Cholla cacti converts this abandoned washing machine into a planter. This image was chosen by Flickr for its Explore page.
To be continued,
Ken
Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 3
Tag: Abandoned
Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 2
This is the old church that first drew my attention to Cuervo, New Mexico, as I drove by along I-40, some years ago. This time I took time to stop and photograph portions of this mostly ghost town.
To be continued,
Ken
Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 1
Cuervo, New Mexico is a small community along interstate I-40 in New Mexico. It is mostly a ghost town, having been established as a railroad stop in 1901, then drying up when the railroad chose another stop in Tucumcari, NM.
I’ve driven this stretch of I-40 past Cuervo numerous times, first making a mental note of this place, when I spotted an old, picturesque church as I drove by at 75mph, thinking that someday I might want to stop in to photograph that old church.
I had spent the night near Gallup, NM, waking up to a snow covered vehicle and campground with temperature in the low 20s. I drove through intermittent snow and rain that heavily overcast morning. I figured the overcast sky would create the perfect environment for photographing in Cuervo, so I determined to take time to stop here today. Atlas, as I drove along not paying attention to where I was, I drove past the only east bound exit for Cuervo. I had to drive 7 or 8 miles to the next exit, make a U-turn and backtrack to Cuervo. By the time I got back to Cuervo, most of the overcast had cleared and it was mostly bright and sunny. But I was here and decided to walk around the small town, photographing the abandoned homes, anyway.
The old church is still somewhat maintained, at least. The roof appears to be relatively new.
To be continued,
Ken
Indiana Fall 2022 – Old and/Or Abandoned
With only one day left of our fall 2022 Indiana visit, I traveled the backroads from our cabin one last time. Many trees were already bare, peak color was nearly all gone, it was overcast and threatening rain, so I hoped to find interesting barns, old homes or other interesting rural scenes to photograph.
Those three trees out front were probably planted with the anticipation of sitting on the porch in their shade some years down the road. The child’s bike beside the house makes me think that a family lived here or maybe a child visited grandparents here.
I saw numerous other interesting rural scenes similar to these, but either there was no place to pull off of the roadway to photograph those or those were set back too far on private property to approach without permission.
This is the final post for Indiana Fall 2022.
Thanks for following,
Ken
Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 5 – Rustic Barn and Abandoned Home
I first saw this old barn and a nearby abandoned house, while in route to another destination. I came back a few days later to photograph these old, rustic buildings.
The image above was selected for Flickr’s Explore Page.
More fall in Indian 2022 later,
Ken
Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 1
My wife and I began a tradition of spending a couple of weeks in Indiana in the fall a few years ago. There are multiple reasons why we established this tradition. 1. My wife has relatives in the area, having lived in Indianapolis during her early childhood. 2. A relative allows us to stay in their weekend cabin that is very near Brown County State Park, which is a very popular place in the fall. 3. We both enjoy seeing fall color in the hardwood forests in this part of the U.S. 4. I get to photograph the fall color and write about it in this blog.
Timing our visit to see the best of the fall color is always hit or miss. Sometimes we are too early, sometimes too late and sometimes we see the peak fall color.
Photographing in the same location at the same time of the year is a challenge and I often worry about my photographic images being too repetitive. After all, how many ways can one photograph trees, forests, barns and fall scenes? Lots, actually, but how many are unique? Trying to get unique and interesting images is a challenge. I can only hope that the scenery varies sufficiently, year by year that my images will not be too boring.
Driving the backroads of Indiana is a good way to appreciate the fall color and other rural fall country scenes.
The barn in this image sits far back from a roadway on private property. I shot it with a telephoto lens from the edge of the roadway, hand holding the camera. I shot from different perspectives trying to get shots with the least amount of that pile of debris in front of it in the image. However, this image may be the best overall, even with that unsightly mess in front of the barn.
I was a little late for the actual sunrise at this location in Brown County Park, so I walked down a slope into the briars, weeds, grasses and brushy growth, thinking a shot from within all that foreground clutter might at least be different than that of the early photographers that were wrapping up their sunrise shoot from the top of the slope and there was no way to avoid getting that messy foreground in a shot from anywhere here.
I had to spend a considerable amount of time picking the stick tights from my clothing after this mornings’ shoot.
Until next time,
Ken
Road Trip Photography Between Destinations – Part 5, September 2022 – House of Eight Gables
This is a continuation of September 2022 road trip photography.
This old, abandoned block facade house, sitting in a wide open area along a gravel roadway was visible for some distance from the highway I was traveling on in Kansas. It is impressive enough to justify a detour to check it out.
Until the next adventure,
Ken
Road Trip Photography Between Destinations – September 2022, Part 4 – Rural Abandonment
This is a continuation of road trip photography of September, 2022.
To be continued,
Ken
Road Trip Photography Between Destinations – September 2022, Part 3 – Abandoned Farm Homes
This is a continuation of road trip photography of September 2022.
After shooting and driving away from this abandoned Nebraska home, I realized that I should have used a slow shutter speed to capture the motion of the windmill. The windmill still spins, but the pump is disconnected.
This is apparently a popular pump gear box that is or was used with windmills. In researching this item, I found online listing for parts for this model gear box.
The evergreen tree on the left seems to be distraught about the dilapidated condition of this abandoned farm house. Maybe children once played around that tree. This image was chosen for Flickr’s Explore Page.
Even more road trip images in the next post,
Ken
Road Trip Photography Between Destinations – September 2022, Part 1
When traveling from one destination to another, I always keep an eye out for interesting subjects to photograph. Taking time to stop and photograph in route helps to break up a trip and it is good to take breaks from sitting in a vehicle for hours at a time. So if I can afford the time, I will stop as often as necessary to capture images along my route.
There are many abandoned homes throughout rural areas. Often these can be photographed from a public roadway. These abandoned places are always on private property and nearly always posted with “No Trespassing” signs. Please respect others’ property and obey these postings or get permission for access.
When shooting such scenes during a road trip, one can’t be too choosy about the time of day or the lighting conditions. It is best to get a shot, when the opportunity arrises, as one may never pass this way again. Indeed, on this trip and others, I’ve often used the excuse of being in a hurry or worrying too much about shooting conditions and passed up opportunities. I nearly always regret those decisions.
More road trip shooting next,
Ken