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: Rural America
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
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
Interior South Dakota
On the south side of Badlands National Park is the tiny town of Interior, South Dakota. I drove through this town a number of times during my September 2022 visit to the Badlands.
I found little of photographic interest in Interior, but there were a couple of small churches that I stopped by to photograph.
These two churches were within visual range of each other with the larger one being the first that I saw and then spotted the smaller one just down a side road from the larger one.
That’s all I have from Interior, SD.
Ken
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge – Ferguson House
On my way to Mount Scott, I had passed a couple of old homes that I planned to try to shoot as I backtracked from Mount Scott. The first old home sat far back from the roadway and looked like an interesting photographic subject. I would have to walk to it to get shots. As I prepared to walk towards the run down old home, I noted a number of free roaming bison and long horn cattle in the vicinity, making approaching that house too risky. So I drove on to the next place.
Well, this house does not look old, does it? It was built in 1927, but has been reconstructed. Follow the links for more information. The little rounded building behind the house covers a water storage tank. I attempted to get close up photos of the tank and its covering structure, but none of those photos were good enough to share.
The little house in the right background is a mystery. It is just an empty shell, built on a concrete foundation and does not look very old.
There is a covered pavilion on the property with posters giving information about the early history of this area.
I shot the house from numerous view points, but the one in this post is the best image.
This marker is near the front of the home lot.
Other than the historical significance of the early homesteaders in this area, I found little of real photographic interest here.
More scouting of this Wildlife Refuge later,
Ken
Rural Decay and Miscellaneous Photos – March 2022 Travel
Small, rural towns across the U.S have experienced dramatic economic downturns as the agrarian industry evolved from one that required much manpower to one that relied more upon mechanization (machine labor).
I see much evidence of this in my road trips, occasionally taking time to photograph the abandoned businesses and homes, either in small rural towns or those scattered across rural farm and ranch lands.
The title for this photo is taken from the street number that is hanging upside down on the post to the left of the door.
In spite of the obvious economic hardship indicated by numerous abandoned homes and businesses in one small community, this old school seem to be well cared for.
Old farm machinery rusting away in this farm field, may have been some of the initial machines that started the economic downturn in this small community.
This lone tree in a vast, post harvest farm field, beneath the wide open sky caused me to pull over for a photo.
Until the next adventure and/or desperate need to photograph something overcomes me,
Ken