Some new photos from Fort Wayne

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Well, the switch seems transparent and I'm happy to see you have something that keeps you going. I can certainly understand the backlog...

Equipment doesn't really matter unless you're working with something that dramatically imposes itself on the image, like a Holga or a pinhole camera.

I've used Olympus OM, Leica M, Nikon, Canon EOS, Canon FD, and Pentax Screwmount 35mm cameras. For digital, I have used Nikon, Canon EOS, Olympus Micro 4/3, and even a Kodak D-SLR.

No one can tell which camera was used for what. Those who obsess the most over gear do so because they are desperate for a magic cure that will make their photographs 'great.' The problem is, that is something that must come from within.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Linda Lou's Furniture was a used furniture store on the corner of Wells Street and Fourth Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The store closed in 2017, and the windows covered in brown paper, but the sign is still up.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Another photograph of the Emoji Chair in front of a fire station in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This time, the door was open and a firetruck was about to drive out.

 

[jsrockit]

Equipment doesn't really matter unless you're working with something that dramatically imposes itself on the image, like a Holga or a pinhole camera.

I've used Olympus OM, Leica M, Nikon, Canon EOS, Canon FD, and Pentax Screwmount 35mm cameras. For digital, I have used Nikon, Canon EOS, Olympus Micro 4/3, and even a Kodak D-SLR.

No one can tell which camera was used for what. Those who obsess the most over gear do so because they are desperate for a magic cure that will make their photographs 'great.' The problem is, that is something that must come from within.

I agree... and never said otherwise. I was just making small talk.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Sherlock and Scout are the two cats in residence at Hyde Brothers Books on Wells Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Sherlock, a fat shorthaired male, is the one peering around the end of a bookshelf. Scout, the longhaired female is lounging on the floor, as she usually does. Both cats are lazy, but very friendly.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Number seven in my series of photographs of the Emoji Chair. This chair sits in front of Fire Station #10 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Every couple weeks, the firefighters change the face on the chair to a different emoji-inspired expression!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

At the beginning of 2015, General Electric closed down the last of their operations at their 100 year old factory complex on Broadway in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The sprawling complex, which included numerous large multistory brick buildings, once employed more than 20,000 people, including my great-grandfather and three of his sons.​

In 2017, plans were finalized to redevelop the historic industrial complex into apartments and retail spaces. The development will be called "Electric Works."​

I had tried for several years to get GE to allow me to photograph the buildings, to no avail. They refused to allow anyone into the fenced-in property. I made a series of black and white photographs of the buildings that were visible from the streets, which you can see in The Last Days Of General Electric in Fort Wayne.​

In April, 2018 the developers of Electric Works invited a small number of Fort Wayne photographers, myself included, to tour some of the buildings and photograph them. These are my photographs from the tour.​

The buildings are in pretty bad condition. Although GE still had some operations at the site until 2015, most of the factory buildings had been closed down and abandoned more than twenty years earlier. One building that was still in wonderful condition was the GE Club building, which houses a gymnasium and basketball court on the upper level, and a bowling alley in the basement. In the past, large corporations like GE built recreation facilities for their employees!

​

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The metal things on the walls are steam heat radiators. They're what kept these century-old buildings warm in winter.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

 

[css9450]

You nailed it! These two are my favorites. Tons of patina and delightful natural lighting. I love a good Albert Kahn factory (no idea if he designed this one, but the style is similar).

These places make great photo subjects but all too often the taggers find a way in and make a mess of the place.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

You nailed it! These two are my favorites. Tons of patina and delightful natural lighting. I love a good Albert Kahn factory (no idea if he designed this one, but the style is similar).

These places make great photo subjects but all too often the taggers find a way in and make a mess of the place.

I'm not sure who designed these buildings, but it does look like Kahn's style. The buildings were completely free of graffiti, because the place is fenced in and has on-site security guards to keep people out. There were a few broken windows in buildings that were close enough to the roads to throw a rock from outside the fence, though.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

One of the most interesting buildings at the General Electric complex in Fort Wayne is the GE Club. In the past, big companies like GE treated employees like a vital part of the company rather than 'costs' to be reduced or eliminated.

The GE Club was a recreation facility for the factory's employees. The top floor of the building housed a large gymnasium with a basketball court. It even had stadium-style seating for spectators!

This is the best preserved building at the old GE plant; the walls were in great condition, with no peeling paint or mold, and the basketball court's floor is in wonderful condition.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The basement of the GE Club building has a bowling alley!

 

[Peter Jennings]

Thanks for the great photos, Chris. As a fellow Hoosier, it feels good to know that these old buildings have found a new purpose and will live on.

 

[Emile de Leon]

Great Photos!!

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Cat and Chair are alive!

 

[zerobuttons]

Very folkloristic, you won't see this kind of patriotism in Europe. Here it is mostly forbidden to put up a national flag besides the few national festivities. Even wearing a little national flag on a button or sewed on a jacket would make you very suspicious around here.

By calling it "forbidden", you claim that there are laws prohibiting use of flags. Examples, please.

I live in Europe, and I do not recognise a word you are saying.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This small American flag was the only thing left in a storage room behind the gymnasium in the GE Club Building at the former General Electric factories in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Built in 1907, Building 20 is one of the oldest buildings at the former General Electric factory complex in Fort Wayne.

It was not even built by GE. The factory was originally built by a local company called "Fort Wayne Electric Works." This name is still visible in the faded sign painted on the front of the building. GE bought the company and greatly expanded the factory with a number of new buildings around 1915.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Someone was reading in the bathroom!

These were all in Building 22