Tag: Weathered

Abandoned Church, New Mexico, July 2021, Interior Views

Abandoned Church Exterior, Front and East Side, New Mexico

After photographing the exterior of this old, abandoned church at the outskirts of a small New Mexico town, I ventured through the open doorway (there was no door) to check out the interior.

Abandoned Church, Interior Graffiti, Just inside the doorway

I had noted much graffiti just looking through the doorway and windows.  Judging by the dates and graffiti messages, it looks like this place is popular with teenagers, presumably local ones, since this is a long way from any other towns or cities.

Abandoned Church, Interior and Graffiti

Shooting handheld in the dim light inside the church required high ISO to get sufficiently high shutter speeds to avoid fuzzy images.  Shooting through windows from inside resulted in blowing out the exterior portions of the images.

Abandoned Church, Interior and Graffiti, Pulpit

I’ve brought out some of the exterior details in the editing process in the image above just to avoid having a white blur in the windows.  The exterior details through the windows are very low quality as a result.  If I had not been shooting handheld, I could have acquired images to create HDR images.

Abandoned Church, Interior Graffiti
Abandoned Church, Interior, Floor

The floor boards were still sound, so maybe the missing boards are a result of someone looking for hidden treasure.

Abandoned Church, Interior, Ceiling

The ceiling bead board had a nice patina and mostly appeared to be in good condition.  The covers to the ceiling light fixtures were all missing, presumably broken or maybe stolen.  There were remnants of broken light bulbs in the fixtures.

Abandoned Church, Interior, Ceiling
Abandoned Church, Interior, Ceiling

There were no window panes so a breeze through the windows made the hanging light fixtures sway.  I had to increase the ISO even more to freeze the motion of these.

Abandoned Church, Interior, Ceiling
Abandoned Church, Interior, Ceiling
Abandoned Church, Interior, Ceiling

Obviously some electrical item had been removed from the central portion of the ceiling.  I’m guessing a ceiling fan had been here and has been stolen, if not removed legally, since those early day fans might be valuable antiques.

This wraps up my photography here.

Until next time,

Ken

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abandoned Church, New Mexico, July 2021, Exterior Views

Abandoned Church Exterior, Front and East Side

As I traveled towards my second overnight destination in route to the Grand Canyon North Rim in July 2021, I spotted an abandoned church about a block north of the highway at the edge of a small New Mexico town.  I had to stop to check out this old church.

The roadway from the highway to the church was gravel, but in good condition.  There were other homes or building visible from the church site, but none were very close to the church, making it stand out from its surroundings.

I walked around the exterior photographing the church from various angles and capturing some of the exterior details, before I ventured through the front doorway.

Abandoned Church Exterior, Weathered and Scared Siding
Abandoned Church Exterior, Weathered Siding

This post is dedicated to the exterior views.  It was afternoon and the lighting was not great for capturing this weathered old church, but I knew I might not pass by again for a long time, if ever, so I had to make the best of the photographic conditions.

Abandoned Church Exterior, East Side
Abandoned Church Exterior, Window and Interior View
Abandoned Church Exterior, Back and East Side
Abandoned Church Exterior, Window and Interior View
Abandoned Church Exterior, Back and West Side
Abandoned Church Exterior, Window and Interior View
Abandoned Church Exterior, Front and West Side, New Mexico
Abandoned Church Exterior, Window and View to Interior Ceiling
Abandoned Church Exterior, Front and West Side, New Mexico
Abandoned Church Exterior, Window and Interior View

I will post photographs from the interior next.

Until then,

Ken

 

 

Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, September 24, 2020, Part 1 – Edited to correct an error in the last paragraph.

I ventured back into the forest on the morning of September 24, 2020, initially taking a similar path to the route I had taken the previous afternoon, wanting to see how the light and forest scenes would differ in the morning light.

Intersecting Aspens. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/6s, f/11, ISO 200.

Sometimes I photographed essentially the same scenes, which looked a little different with the light coming from a different direction.

Aspen Trunks and Shadows. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 34mm, 1/8s, f/11, ISO 200.

There is something magical about being in a forest with sunlight filtering through the leaves and the tree trunks creating bands of shadow and light and

Evergreen with Aspen Leaves. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 46mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 2500.
Forest Light. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 48mm, 1/400s, f/11, ISO 2500.

fallen tree trunks creating an array of geometrical shapes.

Triangle. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/160s, f/11, ISO 1600.
Aspen Forest. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 38mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 2000.
Fall Starburst. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 48mm, 1/160s, f/11, ISO 250.
Forest Starburst. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, 1/250s, f/11, ISO 200.
Star Burst Aspens. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 26mm, 1/200s, f/11, ISO 200.

With all the big trees, back lighted leaves and starburst effects, it is easy to overlook the myriad small details.  There are often interesting little things that make good images.

Aspen Leaf on Log. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, 1/100s, f/11, ISO 2000.
Aspen Leaf on Log. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, 1/160s, f/11, ISO 2000.

The juxtaposition of color and texture in small items can be as intriguing as a wide angle image of the forest.

Grain and Veins. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, 1/250s, f/11, ISO 200.

Autumn is my favorite time of the year.  I like the colors of fall and the crispness and smell of fall.  Yet it is also a strong reminder of our mortality.  I’m wondering, do we become more colorful in our autumn or just wrinkled and weathered?

To be continued,

Ken

 

Rio Grande National Forest, September 20, 2020, Part 4 – Summitville

Driving towards Del Norte on FSR 380, I stopped at the ghost town of Summitville, an old mining town.  There are abandoned, weathering old structures here and some old mine equipment in a parking area that overlooks the current modern mining operation.

Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

I had previously passed through here with my son and DIL, having lunch in the parking area, but I had not browsed around the abandoned structures.  So today I walked around with my iPhone getting a few images of this historic site.

Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

The lumber planks on some of the sidewalls of these old buildings had weathered to a wonderful patina.

Nail heads and tarpaper. Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

There are remnants of the original tarpaper covering, held in place by rusty nails, on the outside walls.

Weathered wall plank, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Weather wall planks, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

I was intrigued by the weathered patina on the exposed lumber on the exterior walls of these old buildings.

Nails and weathered wall plank, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned house, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

It must have been cold in these old buildings in the winter here, as there did not appear to be any insulation in the walls or ceilings, just tarpaper covered exterior walls.

Roof structure, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned house, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

At least the residents and workers here had good views of the mountains, which were probably much more attractive in those old days before the pine bark beetles killed so many of the evergreens.

Old, abandoned houses and modern mine structures, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned facility, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Rusty, broken door hinge, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned structures, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

Imagine how this might look with healthy evergreens around, rather than the beetle killed trees.

Abandoned and Weathered, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned Structure and Modern Mine Facilities, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned Structures, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

The attractive, colorful weathered patina on the wood planks appears to be on mostly the sides facing a southeasterly direction, while all the other sides have mostly a grey patina.

Abandoned Structure, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned Structure, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

Note that the structure above has some colorful patina on a wall facing northwesterly, but most of the color is on the southeasterly wall.

Rusty door hinge, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned structure, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

That’s all for now,

Ken