Holiday Joy in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Chriscrawfordphoto

Real Men Shoot Film.
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Apr 1, 2007
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Location
Fort Wayne, Indiana
holiday-joy.jpg


This is a rundown motel in a depressed industrial area of my hometown, Fort Wayne, Indiana. I photographed it a few days after Christmas.

35mm f2.8 C-Biogon, Tri-X in D-76 1+1, Leica M6
 
You know that would be something I would see but never think of photographing...I love the cords running up to the letters...you make this work very well...another very nice shot from Chris...Thanks for sharing it...
 
Sam,

I drive past this place for 3 weeks with my camera hoping to get a shot of it. The first time I saw it, I knew i had to photograph it! Problem was every damned time I drove by, there were several cars parked in front of it. Finally, on the third of January, I went by it and there were NO CARS. I stopped and snapped the photo. The next day, the display was taken down.
 
I like the simmetry and the contrast between the sense of emptiness, perhaps loneliness and the "joy" in fromt of us. You have been lucky to manage to take the picture before it could have been too late. It happened me once, I wanted to take a photo of an old house in my town but always saying to myself next week. I took the picture one sunday just to finish the film, only a couple of shots. Following week the house was demolished !
ciao, robert
 
Looks like some of the places I stayed in while working for the railroad. Great timing there Chris, you never know when things will disappear.

PF
 
I like the simmetry and the contrast between the sense of emptiness, perhaps loneliness and the "joy" in fromt of us. You have been lucky to manage to take the picture before it could have been too late. It happened me once, I wanted to take a photo of an old house in my town but always saying to myself next week. I took the picture one sunday just to finish the film, only a couple of shots. Following week the house was demolished !
ciao, robert

That's happened to me so many times, it seems like i get there at the last minute. This house below was something I passed by many times over a period of months and it didn't seem very interesting.

dress-house.jpg


Well, one Friday evening I drive by and there was a bulldozer sitting in the yard! So on Saturday, I decided to shoot some pics. That's when I took the photo above. I finished, then noticed a door standing open, so I walked inside. The inside looked really cool. There was an old cast iron sink in the kitchen!

sink.jpg


I was out of film though, and the camera store downtown closed SOON. I had a cell phone back then so I called them and told them to wait for me, i needed film, it was an emergency. I was sure the house would be demolished on Monday. I bought several rolls of Tmax 400 in 120 size. The outside shot was done on Tmax 100 but inside it was rather dark so I chose the 400. I went back to the house on Sunday and shot the sink picture and the living room.

living-room.jpg


Then I noticed the stairs. This entire house had ice coating all the floors. The stairs were covered in ice too, and there was no handrail. I carefully went up the slippery steps carrying a 15lb tripod and a big Tamrac bag with my Mamiya 645 and a set of lenses. The bedrooms upstairs were not interesting, and I did not photograph them. I was disappointed that I'd risked my life on those stairs for nothing, then I noticed a narrow, low-ceiling hallway leading out of one of the bedrooms. The hall's ceiling was so low I could not stand upright to walk down it. At the end of the hall was a walk-in attic. THERE was THE picture.

dress.jpg


This was so incredible that I loaded the film in two film backs and shot the photos of the dress in duplicate so if I f--cked up a roll in processing, I would have a backup. I never mess up developing, but I HAD to have this picture so I didn't take chances. I have never done that before or since. I processed the identical rolls separately and both came out perfect.

The house was demolished the next day.
 
Does anyone else see a direct parallel between Chris's mode of operation and a famous ad campaign?


images


It is unfortunate how many always think "I have got to start actually doing it one of these days, maybe tomorrow."
 
Chris do you have a version of the shot of the attic with the dress where you can see the whole dress and bag, or didn't you have a lens wide enough to do that?

Marty
 
Chris do you have a version of the shot of the attic with the dress where you can see the whole dress and bag, or didn't you have a lens wide enough to do that?

Marty

I do have a picture that was shot vertically showing the whole thing. I shot the pics with a 645 camera and the final version is cropped from a horizontal where the top and bottom are not cropped but the sides are to get the final square image. I never scanned the vertical shot though, I liked this composition better for some reason. I can't remember why now; I shot this 11 years ago and scanned it 9 years ago! Hard to believe I have had my Nikon scanner so long. It doesn't seem so long ago that I shot the photos either, but it was. So much time has gone by...
 
Does anyone else see a direct parallel between Chris's mode of operation and a famous ad campaign?


images


It is unfortunate how many always think "I have got to start actually doing it one of these days, maybe tomorrow."

Bob,

I carry a 35mm camera with me at all times. In the past it was always an Olympus OM-4T SLR, now it is usually a Leica M6. I've captured a lot of really cool stuff that I would not have been there when I came back if I'd had to go home for a camera. like this:

analsexbike.jpg

LOL! I realize some people really enjoy that, but why do you have to put it on your bike? I want an "I heart girls with huge asses" sticker for my car!
 
Bob,

I carry a 35mm camera with me at all times. In the past it was always an Olympus OM-4T SLR, now it is usually a Leica M6. I've captured a lot of really cool stuff that I would not have been there when I came back if I'd had to go home for a camera. like this:

analsexbike.jpg

LOL! I realize some people really enjoy that, but why do you have to put it on your bike? I want an "I heart girls with huge asses" sticker for my car!
I notice they didn't bother locking it up! Who in their right mind would steal it.🙂
 
I do have a picture that was shot vertically showing the whole thing. I shot the pics with a 645 camera and the final version is cropped from a horizontal where the top and bottom are not cropped but the sides are to get the final square image. I never scanned the vertical shot though, I liked this composition better for some reason....

I'd like to see that sometime.

I can't remember why now; I shot this 11 years ago and scanned it 9 years ago! Hard to believe I have had my Nikon scanner so long. It doesn't seem so long ago that I shot the photos either, but it was. So much time has gone by...

When people ask me where a certain photo was taken, these days most of the time I answer "in the past".

Marty
 
Dan,

It is a wedding dress, and I found it there just like you see it. The house was torn down the day after I made the photograph, taking the dress with it. I was afraid to walk out onto the snow-covered floor to get close to the dress out of fear for my safety (of course, I walked up icy stairs to get to it!). So many times I leave these places with questions.

neighbor4.jpg

From a different house. These footprints in paint were on the ceiling of a bedroom. They're toddler-sized and appear to have been made by dipping a child's feet in paint and holding it upside down to touch its feet to the ceiling above. Why?!?!
 
Why would someone paint their front door purple? The more you observe, the more questions you will have. Sometimes though, the answers are no longer available.

Other times, the story behind the question is enough. It makes you wonder why, of all the things to leave behind, would it be a wedding dress. Bad memories I suppose. But you have captured what the person may have been feeling about that dress, of a relationship gone cold and lifeless. It's a great photo, and I think you will do well with it.

All your photographs show a keen sense of depicting more than just the mundane everyday aspects of life.

PF
 
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