Some new photos from Fort Wayne

Chriscrawfordphoto said:
Thanks, Mike. I'm telling the stories of the places I visit through my photographs and through writing. I think of myself as a visual historian, and I love researching the places I find. Some places are 'forgotten,' meaning I can find little or no historical record; all I have is a building.


I also photograph a lot of interesting people and also businesses that are still in operation, and their stories are important to preserve too. Ordinary people like the ones I meet in my journey are often very interesting, and their stories should be preserved. Historians usually ignore such people; they don't "make history" the way that politicians, military commanders, rich men and celebrities do.
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This reminds me of a phrase by the photographer Keith Carter during one of his workshops I took part in :" never underevaluate the potential of ordinary people in your work".

And it is true, they are the ones who make history with their lives and their works even if this is oft not considered!

What I like in Chris work is for sure the photography but even more the detailled descriptions of places and their people through their stories.

Well done, as european I find it interesting and it helps me to understand a different country, thanks.
 
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This row of bushes was COVERED in hundreds of sparrows! I photographed them in the evening shortly before sunset one day last week.
 
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Last week, this hand-made sign was taped to a light pole on the northeast corner of Wells Street and Second Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It says:

"Notice The Change?"

I don't know what the Change is!
 
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These doors are the entrances to two vacant storefronts in the McCavre Building in the small town of Van Wert, Ohio. The building is on the west side of Washington Street, north of the Lincoln Highway. The brick storefront used to be a bar and pool hall called CJ's Sidepocket.


The McCavre Building is across the street from the One Hour Dry Cleaners, which I photographed on the same day last year.
 
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I made this photograph when I was in college more than 20 years ago, and it is still one of my favorite 'landscapes.' My parents had cut down several dead trees in their back yard and this little 'forest' of tiny plants sprouted on the side of one of the fallen trees! The whole scene is only about a foot wide!
 
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This is a "Muffler Man," a large fiberglass sculpture of a man used as advertising. Hundreds of these, advertising a variety of businesses, were once seen along highways in the United States. The stautes became known as Muffler Men because many early ones advertised muffler or car repair shops. They were made from the early 1960s until the mid 1970s.


This one stands in front of McAllister Rentals, a construction equipment dealer on the west side of Interstate 69, just north of State Road 332, a few miles west of Muncie in Delaware County, Indiana. He was originally built for Jack Smith's RV, and originally held a miniature Winnebago motorhome in his outstretched arms.


I photographed it in 2018.
 
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This old house is on the east side of Broadway, between Maple Avenue and Grace Avenue, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The house is small, and painted a drab gray, but it is richly decorated with "gingerbread."
 
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This skeleton made of old auto parts riding an old Simplicity lawn tractor serves as the holder for a newspaper box. The box is mounted on top of the engine, which is a V-6 engine taken from a car, not a lawnmower engine. The skeleton's teeth, ribs, and mohawk hair are made of spark plugs.


This is one of several sculptures made of auto parts along the street in this house's front yard. The home belongs to an auto mechanic who works out of a garage behind the house. It is located on Smith Road, just north of Dorothy Drive, in rural Allen County, Indiana.
 
Looks like spark plugs feature heavily in that sculpture. Very cool.

Love the shot of the sun -- that's the high altitude smoke from the fires, no doubt.
 
KoNickon said:
Looks like spark plugs feature heavily in that sculpture. Very cool.

Love the shot of the sun -- that's the high altitude smoke from the fires, no doubt.
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It probably is. The sky has been a little hazy the last few days here. Its funny because I am 2000 miles from those fires!
 
Saw a map yesterday showing the way the western fire smoke has traveled in the upper levels. It goes up into western Canada, dips back down to the middle of the US, then makes a 45° turn to the northeast through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and into New York. There have been times during fires in other years where I'd be driving up in the Appalachian mountains, and you could see smoke drifting through the valleys below. I used to think it was coming from West Virginia, but learned later on the news it was from Colorado.


We still have a Muffler Man, but the business changes hands so often I'm sure someone will sell him off to a collector.


Got to love a mechanic with an artistic streak.


PF
 
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Klosterman Pizza Company is a locally owned pizzeria on the corner of Main Street and Wayne Street in the small town of Van Wert, Ohio. The tiny building used to be a gas station.
 
I've got a lot of photos of old gas stations like that which are either abandoned, or have been repurposed. I like when they get a new lease on life.


PF
 
farlymac said:
I've got a lot of photos of old gas stations like that which are either abandoned, or have been repurposed. I like when they get a new lease on life.


PF
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This one in Van Wert is a very early one, from the 1930s. There are only a handful of them that old still around. One in Fort Wayne was recently ruined when the owner enclosed the area under the overhang to make another room, so it no longer looks like the gas station it once was.


I like seeing them used for something but don't like seeing them rebuilt so thoroughly that you cannot see what they were.
 
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This beautiful house is on Line Street, between Tully Street and Douglas Street, in the small town of Churubusco, Indiana.


The mailbox is painted to look like the American flag, and the turret-style porch is topped by a finial decorated with metal leaves and red flowers.


I photographed it last year.
 
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This little building is a juice and fruit smoothie bar, located on Adams Street in downtown Toledo, Ohio. The front door has "We Love Toledo" written on the window. I photographed it last week.

Toledo, on the western end of Lake Erie, is the largest city in northwest Ohio.
 
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