Some new photos from Fort Wayne

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Now here is something that one rarely sees in small-town Indiana: a strip club!


Stimmelator's Gentleman's Club is in North Webster, a small town surrounded by lakes in Kosciusko County. In the summer, the area draws in large numbers of tourists and people from northern Indiana's cities who own cottages on the lakes.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is the corner of Main Street and Washington Street in the small town of North Webster, Indiana.


The building that looks like a castle in the background is home to a coffee shop and Pilcher's Shoes, one of the largest shoe stores in Indiana.


Farmer's State Bank originally occupied this plot of land. In the early 1970s, the bank's president decided to build a sports museum in a medieval "Camelot" themed building. The original bank building on the corner was demolished and the "International Palace of Sports" was built.


The stone bench with the bank's name carved into it was built from the door arch from the old bank building. The little castle building directly behind it contains the original bank vault, which was left standing when the rest of the Farmer's State Bank building was torn down!


The museum went bankrupt and closed in 1989, and the building was purchased by local businesswoman Debbie Pilcher, who turned it into a shoe store.


You can read more about the history of the "International Palace of Sports" on the Lost Indiana website.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This house is on the corner of Christyann Street and Lawrence Street in Mishawaka, Indiana.


The front door on the garage, which faces Christyann Street, was painted to look like a huge American flag!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A thin layer of fog lingers over the ground as the rising sun bursts through the trees on a late spring morning in Fort Wayne, Indiana.


I made this photograph at the Fort Wayne Parks Department's Community Garden on Bluffton Road, just south of Sandpoint Road. The city rents out garden plots here to residents who want a garden, but don't have a place for one at their homes.


The trees in the photograph are at the back of the gardens, along the banks of the Saint Marys River, which is hidden by the trees.


I made this photograph a few days ago.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Last Monday, I made another series of abstract "Color Field" photographs. The subject was the sky in rural Allen County, Indiana at dusk.

These nine photographs were made in just a few minutes time as the light and the color of the cloudless sky rapidly changed.

 

[Alfasud]

Chris,
You have a wonderful talent for seeing, and recording images that I, and I'm sure most of us would pass without noticing. Thank you for sharing your work.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Chris,
You have a wonderful talent for seeing, and recording images that I, and I'm sure most of us would pass without noticing. Thank you for sharing your work.

Thanks, Alfasud. People who live here often tell me that they live near or have driven past places I have photographed for years and never noticed them until they saw my photos!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The Ely Center For Contemporary Art in New Haven, Connecticut has asked me to show three of my photographs in an exhibit opening on June 29. "Broad Stripes and Bright Stars" is an exhibit of art depicting the American flag.

Here are the three photos that will be in the exhibit:

 

[Shac]

Congratulations Chris - great images

 

[dmr]

Yes, congratulations! 🙂

 

[raid]

WOW! Congrats Chris.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Thanks, everyone. I am excited about the exhibit. Wish I could go to see it in person.

Sorry its taken so long to respond, I haven't felt well the last few days and haven't been online much.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Voors Jewelry is a small family-owned jewelry store in the middle of a strip of small storefronts on Lower Huntington Road in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

I've photographed this place in black and white a couple of times over the last 20 years, and I have a set of photos I made of the inside, along with a photo of the owner that I am going to post soon.

My parents bought their wedding rings from the store's original owner back in 1970. The old owner's son, who is a little younger than my parents, owns it now.

 

[fireblade]

Congrats Chris, well done.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The Archer Block is an old yellow brick commercial building on the corner of Wells Street and Sixth Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

For more than 40 years, it has been home to the locally owned GI Joe's Army Surplus Store. I photographed it yesterday afternoon.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Last Tuesday evening had been a rainy one in the small town of Churubusco, Indiana. As I drove into Churubusco around 8:30pm, a large rainbow appeared, stretching over the businesses on the east side of US-33 at the southern end of the town.

This is the boldest rainbow that I have ever seen in Indiana. They usually appear much fainter than this one did! The end of the rainbow is behind the entrance to a factory called C&A Tool.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This storefront church on Wells Street in Fort Wayne has to be the most unusual one that I have encountered. They sell used appliances, and they also give them to needy families as part of their ministry.


The vending machines in front of the church sell fruit juice instead of soda pop.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Lev's is a chain of pawn shops in the midwestern United States. This one is on Lower Huntington Road in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is one of three in the city.


I thought the billboard advertising a bank above the pawn shop was interesting. Banks provide loans to the middle class and the wealthy; pawn shops loan to the poor.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This was a depressingly common sight last night at the 2017 Fourth of July fireworks in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana.


A lot of the people were watching the fireworks on their phones. While they were probably making videos of the fireworks show, it looked odd to see them paying more attention to their smartphones than to the ACTUAL fireworks!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

These two Hispanic-American brothers were watching the 2017 Fourth of July fireworks on the Courthouse Green in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The younger one's hat says, in American-flag-colored letters, "Merica!"