Grain Elevators in Texas

Chriscrawfordphoto

Chriscrawfordphoto

Real Men Shoot Film.
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groom-grain.jpg


Groom is a farming community in the Texas Panhandle. Route 66 ran through the town before I-40 was built, and these grain elevators sit along a section of the old highway. The four-lane road seems out of place in the tiny town!

8-17-11
 
Chris, another great image capturing all that big sky in the southwest. Must have been a wonderful road trip.

Curious what film you used for the color shots.

This one makes me think about Charles Sheeler paintings, though your image is far warmer, with that saturated sky, than any of his very gray (even though they're in color) paintings. Also, Bernd & Hilla Becher, who seem to be the masters (though some folks seem to love them and others hate them) of this subject matter. Anyway, this is clearly a Chris Crawford reading of the subject not ever to be confused with someone else's style. Your shot gives the grain elevators a sense of place.

Looking forward to more road trip images. I get to see the world without using any gas.
 
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Nice shot, as usual Chris. This is really close to home, as I grew up in the Texas panhandle. Groom was in our U.I.L. District. Your photos are like seeing it for the first time for me. I lived in a small town called Panhandle. (That usually sounds funny to people.)

Btw, there's also a giant cross near Groom, on I-40. I'll call it a monstrosity, because I find it artless. Others would probably disagree.

You may not have chosen it as a subject. I think you usually gravitate toward less obvious targets.

In any case, I'm really enjoying your road trip photos. Keep them coming.
 
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crawdiddy said:
Nice shot, as usual Chris. This is really close to home, as I grew up in the Texas panhandle. Groom was in our U.I.L. District. You're photos are like seeing it for the first time for me. I lived in a small town called Panhandle. (That usually sounds funny to people.)

Btw, there's also a giant cross near Groom, on I-40. I'll call it a monstrosity, because I find it artless. Others would probably disagree.

You may not have chosen it as a subject. I think you usually gravitate toward less obvious targets.

In any case, I'm really enjoying your road trip photos. Keep them coming.
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groom-cross2.jpg


Here it is, and I agree, it is artless and ugly. A lot of Christian art is beautiful and uplifting, but fundamentalist Christians despise art, so when they create something like this, they ironically end up creating something that visually evokes the very modernism that they also hate. The Groom cross is 190 ft. tall, and can be seen from 20 miles away on I-40, thanks to the flat landscape in that part of Texas.

There's an identical cross in Effingham, Illinois. The Illinois people asked the Texas people for the plans, which they gave freely to their fellow Christians, then the Effingham group built their cross 8 feet taller! There is now a group in Richmond, Indiana trying to build a cross using the same design.
 
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robklurfield said:
Chris, another great image capturing all that big sky in the southwest. Must have been a wonderful road trip.

Curious what film you used for the color shots.

This one makes me think about Charles Sheeler paintings, though your image is far warmer, with that saturated sky, than any of his very gray (even though they're in color) paintings. Also, Bernd & Hilla Becher, who seem to be the masters (though some folks seem to love them and others hate them) of this subject matter. Anyway, this is clearly a Chris Crawford reading of the subject not ever to be confused with someone else's style. Your shot gives the grain elevators a sense of place.

Looking forward to more road trip images. I get to see the world without using any gas.
Click to expand...

Rob, I used Fuji Provia 100F in 120 size. I like Sheeler's work, and I'll have to look up the Bechers' work. Thanks!
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
groom-cross2.jpg


Here it is, and I agree, it is artless and ugly. A lot of Christian art is beautiful and uplifting, but fundamentalist Christians despise art, so when they create something like this, they ironically end up creating something that visually evokes the very modernism that they also hate. The Groom cross is 190 ft. tall, and can be seen from 20 miles away on I-40, thanks to the flat landscape in that part of Texas.

There's an identical cross in Effingham, Illinois. The Illinois people asked the Texas people for the plans, which they gave freely to their fellow Christians, then the Effingham group built their cross 8 feet taller! There is now a group in Richmond, Indiana trying to build a cross using the same design.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the flow of images, Chris. We have a lot of grain silos (you call them elevators) in this country and as a former flour miller they have a special place in my memories. Your story about the second group building their cross eight feet taller and a third group about to start one one made me think that one will be taller again and recalled the Biblical tale of the Tower of Babel.
 
If I am not mistaken, these elevators all sit along the side of a railroad on the opposite side of the 4-lane you depicted. And that is why they are in this location: to transport the grain to market (by train).

Try to stop and look behind the "obvious" soon. The view will be much more enticing with the grain hoses, funnels, the tracks, rail cars etc, all where they belong, rather than a "useless" road .. useless for grain shipping, that is.
 
uhligfd said:
If I am not mistaken, these elevators all sit along the side of a railroad on the opposite side of the 4-lane you depicted. And that is why they are in this location: to transport the grain to market (by train).

Try to stop and look behind the "obvious" soon. The view will be much more enticing with the grain hoses, funnels, the tracks, rail cars etc, all where they belong, rather than a "useless" road .. useless for grain shipping, that is.
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Agreed..

Some weekend I'm going to Saginaw Tx just off Loop 820 and shoot the grain elevators with the rail yard.. I see them on the way to work each day but never stopped to shoot..
 
uhligfd said:
If I am not mistaken, these elevators all sit along the side of a railroad on the opposite side of the 4-lane you depicted. And that is why they are in this location: to transport the grain to market (by train).

Try to stop and look behind the "obvious" soon. The view will be much more enticing with the grain hoses, funnels, the tracks, rail cars etc, all where they belong, rather than a "useless" road .. useless for grain shipping, that is.
Click to expand...

I live in a farming state, I know what these are used for and how they work. There a lot of them in the Fort Wayne area, all along railroads, as you noted. Here, they're mainly used for corn and soybeans, rather than wheat. You have no clue what I looked at. I depicted them the way that I wanted them depicted. You want to pay my day rate plus travel, I'll be glad to photograph them your way 😛
 
uhligfd said:
If I am not mistaken, these elevators all sit along the side of a railroad on the opposite side of the 4-lane you depicted. And that is why they are in this location: to transport the grain to market (by train).

Try to stop and look behind the "obvious" soon. The view will be much more enticing with the grain hoses, funnels, the tracks, rail cars etc, all where they belong, rather than a "useless" road .. useless for grain shipping, that is.
Click to expand...

What is "obvious" to me is that the kindest interpretation of your comments is that you're "mistaken". On the load-out side of elevators there is usually no more than a garner bin, slide control and spout for directing grain into the rail cars - which at any given time may or may not be present. The "busiest" side of such a facility is the intake side and then only during harvest. For much of the year they look abandoned even though they may still be full of stored grain. If loading out is actually taking place then there will be opportunities for a different type of shot - a few people, a bit of action, and lots of dust. Depends on what you find on the day you're there - not on what someone imagines might be there.
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
Rob, I used Fuji Provia 100F in 120 size. I like Sheeler's work, and I'll have to look up the Bechers' work. Thanks!
Click to expand...

the Bechers were part of the New Topography movement and were large in Germany even prior to that time. The are from the Dusseldorf school and their work still carries strong influence on modern photographers. They did substantial amounts of work on "industrial typologies" (their concept) and covered timber industry chip burners to smelters and everything else in between. A quick internet search will show their work. Primarily in LF BW.
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Dusseldorf school: http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=592
 
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