Some new photos from Fort Wayne





This vacant building is on the corner of Washington Street (State Road 26) and Monroe Street in the small town of Hartford City, Indiana. It has "Happy Dayz" painted on this window on the west side of the building, facing Monroe Street.

Other signs on the building said that a restaurant called Happy Dayz was going to open there in early 2021. I don't think it ever did.

12-7-21
 




On County Road 600N in the small town of Uniondale, Indiana, there is an ancient 19th century building that was an auto repair shop for many years.

When I photographed it the first time, in 2013, the old retired mechanic who owned the place lived in an apartment in the back of the building. It was abandoned when I made this photograph in 2017, and the paper American flag in the front window had been damaged by water.

5-29-17
 




A nearby tree casts an elaborate shadow across the front of the little white church in the Prairie Grove Cemetery on Old Trail Road in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

This church was built in 1851 by the United Brethren in Christ, a protestant denomination that built many rural churches across the Midwestern United States in the Nineteenth Century. It is probably the second oldest building in both Fort Wayne and Allen County. When it was built, this was a rural area several miles southwest of Fort Wayne. The city, now Indiana's second largest, was a small town and Wayndale did not exist at all! Waynedale was founded in the early 1920s and was an independent small town until it was annexed by Fort Wayne in 1957.

2-14-22
 
Nice one, Chris -- interesting patterns in the glass panels above the door -- or is that frost? Is the church still in regular use?
 
KoNickon said:
Nice one, Chris -- interesting patterns in the glass panels above the door -- or is that frost? Is the church still in regular use?
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The glass panes in the windows aren't truly flat; they're 170 years old! That's what the patterns are from; reflections distorted by the glass not being truly flat.

The church is not used by a congregation; the cemetery owns it and keeps it maintained. People rent it for weddings and they have a Christmas worship service there every year with a minister from one of Waynedale's churches who volunteers to do the Christmas service. The people who rent it for weddings bring their own minister.
 




This building is on the north side of Line Street, just west of Railroad Street, in Geneva, Indiana.

It was originally a movie theatre, and later became a church. Opened around 1930 as the Limberlost Theatre, it was renamed the Star Theatre in 1935. The theatre closed in 2015, and was a church called Community Christian Ministries for a time after that (the church's name is faintly visible on the front of the overhang). It appeared to be vacant when I photographed it.

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
 
12-7-21-santastoyshop-1.jpg


Magic Corner is a store on the corner of Washington Street (State Road 26) and Jefferson Street in the small town of Hartford City, Indiana.

They had an inflatable arch over the front door that said "Santa's Toy Shop" and the front windows were full of Christmas decorations in the days leading up to the holiday.

12-7-21
 
Out to Lunch said:
I've lived in Geneva, Switzerland for some years and became curious about Geneva, Indiana. During my search, I stumbled on this documentary of Geneva resident, Gene Stratton-Porter, a popular writer, filmmaker, and photographer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvOWDOfxbLw Cheers, OtL
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She's remembered in Geneva today. Her house there is a museum now. Her husband was a pharmacist, back when pharmacists owned their own stores instead of working for others. The building he built in Geneva still stands, though it is vacant now. Its the "Hub" storefront I posted a photo of awhile back:



12-10-21-thehub.jpg


Here's the description I posted with it:

This vacant storefront is on the south side of Line Street in the small town of Geneva, Indiana. In the late 19th Century, it was a pharmacy owned by Charles Porter, husband of famed writer Gene Stratton-Porter. Later, it was owned by local businessman Charles Fravel, who had antique store called The Hub.

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.

I want to thank my friend and fellow Indiana artist Gedda Runyon Starlin for her help in researching the history of this place. Her family was one of the first to settle in Adams County in the early 19th Century, and she grew up near Geneva.
 
Thanks, Chris. I've just finished watching the last part of the Stratton-Porter documentary. A very interesting time piece, including the photography, references to Fort Wayne, and her activities as an avant la lettre conservationist. Cheers, OtL
 



This abandoned house is being demolished. People had vandalized the inside of the house with quite a bit of graffiti. The piece of wood leaning against the front of the house appears to have been painted by two different people. One wrote: "Help." Below that, another wrote: "No" with a smiley face painted inside the letter O.

This house is on the south side of Lower Huntington Road, just west of Coverdale Road, a couple miles west of Waynedale in rural Allen County, Indiana.

I have photographed the house, the barns behind it, and the very long rutted lane leading back to the house many times over the years. It was demolished at the end of 2017.

12-2-17
 



This old house is on Maple Avenue, west of Broadway, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Many of the houses in this now economically depressed area of the city were built, like this one, with elaborate 'gingerbread' decorations. A century ago, this was a much more prosperous neighborhood.

This house, like many large houses in Fort Wayne's older neighborhoods, is now divided into apartments. The man standing in the driveway is one of the house's tenants.

9-10-20
 



A pair of butternut squash that my grandmother had grown in her garden when I was in college.

This is a Polaroid SX-70 Manipulation. Polaroid SX-70 was the first "All in one" Polaroid film; unlike earlier Polaroid films, you did not have to peel apart the film to get the finished print. Unlike the later Polaroid 600 and Spectra films, the image of an SX-70 print remained soft for several minutes after the image had completely developed. This was discovered soon after the film was introduced back in the 1970s and artists began using blunt tools like wooden sticks and crochet needles to smear the image and push parts of it around under the clear plastic that covered the front surface.

I learned to do this in art school in the late 1990s. Unfortunately the Polaroid SX-70 film was discontinued only a couple years later, so I have only a handful of these images. The Polaroid SX-70 film sold today is a totally different material that was introduced a few years ago by the newly resurrected Polaroid company. Unfortunately, the new SX-70 film hardens before the image appears and cannot be manipulated like the old stuff. Images like this can never be made again.

1995
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:



A pair of butternut squash that my grandmother had grown in her garden when I was in college.

This is a Polaroid SX-70 Manipulation. Polaroid SX-70 was the first "All in one" Polaroid film; unlike earlier Polaroid films, you did not have to peel apart the film to get the finished print. Unlike the later Polaroid 600 and Spectra films, the image of an SX-70 print remained soft for several minutes after the image had completely developed. This was discovered soon after the film was introduced back in the 1970s and artists began using blunt tools like wooden sticks and crochet needles to smear the image and push parts of it around under the clear plastic that covered the front surface.

I learned to do this in art school in the late 1990s. Unfortunately the Polaroid SX-70 film was discontinued only a couple years later, so I have only a handful of these images. The Polaroid SX-70 film sold today is a totally different material that was introduced a few years ago by the newly resurrected Polaroid company. Unfortunately, the new SX-70 film hardens before the image appears and cannot be manipulated like the old stuff. Images like this can never be made again.

1995
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Interesting that you "learned to do this in art school in the late 1990s". I assume you were a Photography major? When I was in art school (MICA) in the early 1970s, as a Photo major, I pounced on the SX-70 as soon as it was available. This baffled and horrified my instructors, all RIT graduates, who regarded the Zone System as The Word of God, and 35mm cameras as toys. They grudgingly "allowed" me to "play" with the SX-70, but I suspect I would have been expelled if I had done any manipulations of the print, such as yours!
It's fascinating that by the 1990s, this was something that was being taught, rather than discouraged. I suppose that after Lucas Samaras made a name (and lots of money) for himself, the establishment decided to give the process its imprimatur. I love the art world (sarcasm note)!
 
Retro-Grouch said:
Interesting that you "learned to do this in art school in the late 1990s". I assume you were a Photography major? When I was in art school (MICA) in the early 1970s, as a Photo major, I pounced on the SX-70 as soon as it was available. This baffled and horrified my instructors, all RIT graduates, who regarded the Zone System as The Word of God, and 35mm cameras as toys. They grudgingly "allowed" me to "play" with the SX-70, but I suspect I would have been expelled if I had done any manipulations of the print, such as yours!
It's fascinating that by the 1990s, this was something that was being taught, rather than discouraged. I suppose that after Lucas Samaras made a name (and lots of money) for himself, the establishment decided to give the process its imprimatur. I love the art world (sarcasm note)!
Click to expand...

I finished my BFA with photo major at Indiana University - Fort Wayne in 1999. The photo professor there was a man named Stephen Perfect; he was really into stuff like this. We did Polaroid image transfers and emulsion lifts, too. Those were done with the peel-apart films.

By the time I was in school, Polaroid was actively encouraging the use of their materials for creative stuff beyond ordinary 'straight' photography. Somewhere around here I have a couple of books that Polaroid gave out showing how to do the SX-70 manipulations and the peel-apart film stuff.
 




This is my grandparents Charles and Rosa Crawford's kitchen. They had a smaller oven above the stove, in addition to the regular one under the stove. A tea kettle sits on the stovetop. My grandpa drank tea constantly, a habit that he introduced me to when I was a young boy. I still drink tea all the time!

This is a Polaroid SX-70 Manipulation. Polaroid SX-70 was the first "All in one" Polaroid film; unlike earlier Polaroid films, you did not have to peel apart the film to get the finished print. Unlike the later Polaroid 600 and Spectra films, the image of an SX-70 print remained soft for several minutes after the image had completely developed. This was discovered soon after the film was introduced back in the 1970s and artists began using blunt tools like wooden sticks and crochet needles to smear the image and push parts of it around under the clear plastic that covered the front surface.

I learned to do this in art school in the late 1990s. Unfortunately the Polaroid SX-70 film was discontinued only a couple years later, so I have only a handful of these images. The Polaroid SX-70 film sold today is a totally different material that was introduced a few years ago by the newly resurrected Polaroid company. Unfortunately, the new SX-70 film hardens before the image appears and cannot be manipulated like the old stuff. Images like this can never be made again.

1995
 
I like the abstract effects of the SX-70 manipulations, Chris.

The bold markings of the stylus remind me of the bold brush strokes of van Gogh.

- Murray
 
CMur12 said:
I like the abstract effects of the SX-70 manipulations, Chris.

The bold markings of the stylus remind me of the bold brush strokes of van Gogh.

- Murray
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Thanks, Murray. I loved doing these; I wish the current Polaroid materials worked for it. Its been almost 25 years since they made the film needed for it!

I have several more to post soon.
 
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