Some new photos from Fort Wayne










The Indiana-Michigan Power Center is the tallest of the three skyscrapers in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. The 27 story, 442 foot (135m) tall building, completed in 1982, was originally known as One Summit Square. It was built by Indiana-Michigan Power, an electrical utility owned by American Electric Power, and Summit Bank. The locally-owned Summit Bank was absorbed into a larger bank years ago and after a couple of other mergers, it is now part of Chase Bank. In 2014, One Summit Square was renamed the Indiana-Michigan Power Center.

This building is widely regarded as the ugliest building in Fort Wayne; though it was designed by by one of the country's most prominent architectural firms, Kevin Roche - John Dinkeloo and Associates. The original plan called for the construction of two identical buildings, twin towers; but budget problems stopped the project after the completion of the first tower.

I made these photographs in the early morning, with the sun reflecting off the windows on the building's south side.

12-23-21
 




This house is on Sandpoint Road, between Arbor Avenue and Woodheath Avenue, in my neighborhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This year, the owners went all out for Christmas, covering the house with lights and filling the front yard with lighted holiday decorations.

I photographed it very early in the morning, shortly before dawn.

12-29-21
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:




This house is on Sandpoint Road, between Arbor Avenue and Woodheath Avenue, in my neighborhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This year, the owners went all out for Christmas, covering the house with lights and filling the front yard with lighted holiday decorations.

I photographed it very early in the morning, shortly before dawn.

12-29-21
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Tasteful and restrained. Delightful!
 
Retro-Grouch said:
Tasteful and restrained. Delightful!
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I think this one wins the prize for "Tasteful and restrained."




This house is on Main Street, next to Wolf Lake Elementary School, in the small town of Wolf Lake, Indiana. The entire yard, front and back, and both sides, was covered in inflatable Christmas decorations.

Most of the inflatables are in the back and north side yards, shown in this photograph, facing toward the school's playground. The owner told me there were more than 100 inflatables in the yard!

I photographed them in the evening, near dusk.

12-3-16
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
I think this one wins the prize for "Tasteful and restrained."




This house is on Main Street, next to Wolf Lake Elementary School, in the small town of Wolf Lake, Indiana. The entire yard, front and back, and both sides, was covered in inflatable Christmas decorations.

Most of the inflatables are in the back and north side yards, shown in this photograph, facing toward the school's playground. The owner told me there were more than 100 inflatables in the yard!

I photographed them in the evening, near dusk.

12-3-16
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Humanity is doomed.
 




This old brick house is a triplex apartment building on the corner of Washington Street (State Road 26) and Mulberry Street Street in the small town of Hartford City, Indiana.

The front of the building is decorated with a hand painted wooden American flag and a big star.

12-7-21
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:




This old brick house is a triplex apartment building on the corner of Washington Street (State Road 26) and Mulberry Street Street in the small town of Hartford City, Indiana.

The front of the building is decorated with a hand painted wooden American flag and a big star.

12-7-21
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The decorations on this house go a long way toward making it special, and not just another house. Also, I notice that the doorways seem to have been reworked. The area over the doors look like they have been bricked in. I'm thinking they were once "transoms widows" that could be opened to improve air circulation in the days before air conditioning. The curvy shape at top seems to have a Victorian influence, like the homes in Lafayette Square in St. Louis. Our home here in St. Louis has a transom over our front door, but plain in appearance, without the fancy ornate curve.

Cool shot, Chris.
 
Rob-F said:
The decorations on this house go a long way toward making it special, and not just another house. Also, I notice that the doorways seem to have been reworked. The area over the doors look like they have been bricked in. I'm thinking they were once "transoms widows" that could be opened to improve air circulation in the days before air conditioning. The curvy shape at top seems to have a Victorian influence, like the homes in Lafayette Square in St. Louis. Our home here in St. Louis has a transom over our front door, but plain in appearance, without the fancy ornate curve.

Cool shot, Chris.
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Yeah, details like that are what made it interesting enough for me to photograph it. I think you're right about the doors. I see a lot of old houses and other buildings with bricked up transom windows and modern doors that don't seem to 'fit' the building (not in size but in aesthetics). Ornate buildings like this are common in small towns in Indiana; these places were once much more prosperous than they are now.
 




This little bike was leaned up against the front of a building on the corner of Line Street and Railroad Street on a rainy day in the small town of Geneva, Indiana. The storefront windows are full of old toys, some of them older than I am. A small handwritten sign in the window says "Cindy's Toys."

Geneva is a small town in the southern part of Adams County, Indiana. Like the larger town of Berne, located a few miles north, Geneva was founded by immigrants from Switzerland.

12-10-21
 




This lone tree stands in the middle of a field on the northwest corner of Thiele Road and Yoder Road, in rural Allen County, Indiana. I photographed it looking west from Thiele Road.

The tree has a beautiful, near-perfect shape. I photographed it on a very foggy December afternoon.

12-27-21
 



This office chair was sitting by the road on Arbor Avenue, just south of Sandpoint Road, in my neighborhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana. A few days later, it was collected by the garbage men.

I photographed it in the early evening, when it was still covered in the snow that had fallen earlier in the day. This was the first good snowfall we had in Fort Wayne for the 2021 winter.

12-28-21
 



Asbury United Methodist Church stands on the northwest corner of County Road 1100S and State Road 3, in rural Wells County, Indiana. It is surrounded by a small cemetery, as was common with rural churches in the past.

12-7-21
 
Retro-Grouch said:
Chris, these two most recent postings are absolute jewels! Thank you for sharing them.
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Thanks. Last year was a bad year for me. I was in poor health most of the year, and I didn't sell a single print all year. After years of raising my son, I'm having to depend on him financially. I didn't feel like doing much, and didn't do very much photography. In December, we had several beautiful days with foggy mornings that turned into overcast days with soft light. I finally felt up to doing some work, and I did a bunch of really incredible landscapes on the foggy mornings and traveled to some small towns to photograph in the afternoons after the fog lifted. I'm still working on editing all of them, but I have a lot of new stuff on the way!
 
Chris, I hope 2022 is a better year for you. Sometimes, accomplishing some new and exciting work can be a big lift for the spirits. I think many of us are looking forward to seeing your newest stuff!
 
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A crowd of people kayaking on the Saint Marys River at Promenade Park in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. This was on the evening of July 4th, near the end of the day. A lot of people were on the river waiting for the fireworks to begin. A man in the foreground has his dog in the kayak with him!

Promenade Park opened in the summer of 2019 on the banks of the Saint Marys River, just west of Headwaters Park, as part of Fort Wayne's efforts to develop the areas around the three rivers that converge in the city. The Saint Marys River and Saint Joseph River come together on the east side of downtown to form the Maumee River, which empties into Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio.

7-4-21
 
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