Photo of the Week 2021-08-30

Digging into the archive this week ...

 

' door no more '

I shot this image in an abandoned farmhouse almost 12 years ago to the day. It was during my "rurex" period, where weekends  consisted of visiting many of the local abandoned rural buildings and properties.

 

There were a few of us from the local photography community that shared an interest in exploring these structures. Unfortunately, my participation in such activities came to an end when arson claimed many of the structures ... including this one. I've written of other nearby buildings lost to arson at the hand of a disturbed individual who was ultimately identified, charged and convicted on several counts ...

... though the beauty of these structures and this door in particular are no more.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-04-20

I knew little of Windfields Farm before it caught my eye while driving by sometime early in 2012. I first photographed the gates and exterior fences on a snowy February day and returned on at least 3 additional occasions, twice entering the abandoned, vacant property to photograph what was then a deteriorating Canadian icon. This is the third recent 'Photo of the Week' post featuring those images from Windfields.

As I have revisited, remembered and reprocessed, the image below stands out and continues to have a haunting effect on me. Marked as Barn #1, I envision it as the barn where the cream of the crop would have been housed. It was by far the most well appointed of the barns I was able to explore.

While inside, as I explored, looking for a composition to capture the disintegrating equine luxury, I could almost hear the neighing, snorting and the sound of hooves from famous thoroughbreds in the chilling icy silence.

High Rent District

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-04-13

Eight years ago I had the opportunity to photograph a now all but gone location. Canadian thoroughbred racing icon E. P. Taylor's Windfields Farm had sat abandoned for a few years and was deteriorating rapidly when I stumbled upon it on a drive south on Simcoe Rd. in Oshawa.

I had heard of E. P. Taylor and Northern Dancer but never much of the famous farm Taylor operated breeding his horses on 6 square kilometres of farmland in Durham Region. It's a fascinating story and piece of Canadian history for anyone who has an interest to dig into it. We all have time now in our cocoons of COVID isolation.

On four separate occasions at the end of winter 2012, I photographed here. Twice from just along the road, capturing the gates, related offices and dwellings associated with the operation. As I became more fascinated with it's story, I decided to probe further and onto the property. Each time I visited, the conditions were different. I was able to capture very different moods. The last visit, on a foggy March morning was my favourite. I spent a few hours there photographing around the property and in the buildings that were open and accessible. Although not readily identifiable as Windfields, the image above is a favourite.

Dark Hedges of Windfields

I set up on the long entrance lane just inside the main gate with my 70-200 f/2.8 on a EOS 50D (camera long gone now) and shot at 200mm, f/4 to compress the perspective and narrow the DoF looking off into the fog. I think the effect creates great mood and an interesting image.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-04-06

As days begin to blur together in COVID isolation, the already less formal in retirement daily routine has been further defocused. Now too, the weekly rhythm weakens, becomes less important with external activities curtailed, and getting ready to go to bed last night, I realized it was Sunday, that I had not prepared a regular blog post for the morning.

I have been spending a considerable amount of time these days at my computer in the basement, reviewing images, most from 10 or more years ago and you would think that I might have a collection of images flagged for posting ... you'd be right.

Fortunately I have, and I've wanted to keep to the stream of Urbex / Rurex images that I've been posting. Coincidentally, I had begun work on a series from Windfields Farm, a location steeped in Ontario history, particularly in the equine community.

the light beyond

The grave of Northern Dancer

I have a fairly extensive catalogue of images from a few visits to this location and will likely be posting more on my social media feeds in the coming days.
NOTE: 
As I sat down to wright this post, I was shocked to see a news article about a fire at an abandoned structure in my social media feed. Just the other day, I saw a significant collection of images of this place posted to a FB page I follow. It was a grand log home that I was previously unaware of, and apparently very close to developed Brampton.
This is an all too familiar scenario, remembering the fires resulting from arson in Wellington County and surrounding area several years ago. It was at that time I stopped visiting and photographing abandonments. The increased security and police presence aside, publicizing these locations was very probably attracting the wrong type of attention. In the case of the structures in Wellington, a troubled mind, now charged with setting several of the fires. In the case of this recent Brampton fire, cause or those responsible yet to be determined. Whether accident, carelessness, misadventure, stupidity or sickness, I'm again left contemplating to what degree posting images of abandoned places contributes to the frequency of these fires.
Final Note: I understand that Windfields Farm is no longer abandoned or standing as it did, that the property has been developed or repurposed and as such no longer exists as I experienced it.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-03-30

I'm glad to have photography to help keep me busy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Every time I get the urge to go out as I would in "normal" life, I head to the computer and click away into my image archive, ultimately finding something to occupy my time for a few minutes and possibly hours ...

Already, I've been reminded of so many people, places and things from early in my over a decade of digital shooting ... and I've only really been concentrating on the Urbex / Rurex content that I have.

Fascinating to me are the details to be found in abandoned locations ...

low fidelity

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-03-23

Self isolation, social distancing, staying inside, working from home, sheltering in place ... 

Whatever term you choose, it's provided a great opportunity (excuse) for me to isolate at the computer and dive into my archive. Along with recently joining a 'Forgotten Ontario' group on Facebook, this has me revisiting images from past Urbex / Rurex outings. My first "rediscovery" was a series of images I made back in 2009 at the former (now demolished) Massey Ferguson facility in Brantford, ON. Click here to see  the full gallery of images.

Nearing the end of reviewing the almost 200 images, I came across one that had previously not been given more than a cursory look. Whether it's the light cast on the brick wall, the textures, the wonderful colours, the open door or the quirky angles that are just a touch off balancing, I became completely entranced with this one ...

entrance(d)

... so entranced actually that I decided it needed to be printed and framed for the wall.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2019-08-26

Well ...

... after a recent stumble followed by a stagger (or two), causing me to set about questioning why I photograph, how I photograph, what is it I'm trying to do with my photography, I wasn't making any headway. In fact I felt like I was regressing, going backward and downhill ...

Then as so often happens in life, I had a breakthrough !

Thanks to the suggestions and feedback from a number of people, some close friends and others who serendipitously offered some sage advise. Whether known to them or not, their conversations and comments were very, very helpful.

One suggestion to review the highlights of my blog over the past ten years helped me to reconnect with what inspired me ... amongst other things, this "reinspired" me - Thanks D-L H

Another, in part of a conversation over lunch, helped me to understand how my process of creating images had changed over time and perhaps not for the better from an experiential or gratification perspective - Thanks TB

Others, with their support and urging to continue, to move forward, helped lift my spirits in which I found motivation and energized me sufficiently for me to seek a path forward - Thanks LME, DC, HB and others ...

With renewed vigour, I may just be ... over the rut.

over the rut - IR B&W

In fact, rather than having difficulty finding an image for this week's blog post, I've had difficulty selecting just one from a purposeful and fulfilling outing to McQuillan's Bridge, a local landmark that I've been meaning to capture for some time.

A mid-day outing in full sun, with my Infrared converted EOS M, resulted in a collection of captures that I processed with various plugins to create B&W and False Colour IR images. It's been a while since I've been so satisfied with the experience and results of an outing.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2019-03-25

monuments

I've long admired an interpretation of this particular scene as captured by photographer and friend Alan Norsworthy.

Having passed by these remnants of a quarrying operation countless times while walking the trails at what is now Fletcher Creek Nature Reserve, I've never quite been content with my own versions. Alan seemed to have captured something different, something more that was missing in my images. I thought perhaps because of my years working in the industry, familiarity with such structures prevented me from seeing these as objects in an artistic context and I just dismissed them as "ho hum". I think that may be part of it. Often, with things unfamiliar, I'll spend some time and investigate their potential as photographic subjects, exploring different points of view, their form, their interplay with light and shadow. In this case I also think that there was a desire not to duplicate what Alan had captured, to avoid a "me too"

I marked the images I made back in 2013 for another look sometime down the road and have stumbled on them a number of times since but here I am down the road and it's time ...

... coming back to them with a new approach using some gritty post processing techniques and applying a texture, I have found something of my own.

monuments II

monuments III

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-01-02

One morning recently, I headed out to test a new lens I had picked up. My intent was to do some shots with it on both of my DSLR bodies along with another lens for comparison. The light was very dull and grey due to the heavy cloud cover and I limited my shooting to trees and bushes at various distances across a rolling uncultivated farm field.

The outing was purely intended to be a technical exercise given the poor conditions for shooting ... however, the route to the field I had chosen took me right by a favourite old scene. I had recently heard in the news that there had been a fire at this old abandoned farmhouse and immediately my heart sank. So many of the old farm houses and barns are being lost to neglect and fires and hopes of reviving their charm is lost with them.

Whether from careless use of fire by the homeless using it for shelter or from misadventure of some local youth, this historic stone farmhouse is forever transformed. On this day, I was particularly struck by how it's boarded up windows gave the appearance of lights being on inside ... 

' ... but nobody's home'

Just over two years ago I photographed this same house. In the light mist of an early afternoon it still held some promise of being brought back to life. I fear now that it will be condemned, to be torn down or to be left to fully deteriorate from neglect. 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2016-01-25

This weekend, I was looking through my image library for a particular shot from several years ago to upload on a contest site. While browsing for the image, I came across others made the same day at an abandoned factory location, I decided to select a few for my blog this week and think anyone reading this will find it quite different from my "normal" or at least recent work.

The location, an abandoned factory which has since been demolished, was made available by the manager of the property and along with several of my friends we descended on the property for a few hours of shooting shenanigans. It was my second opportunity to photograph at this location and I had been harbouring an idea for some cinematic shots, should I ever return. I've shared these elsewhere in the past but offer them here as a mini set ... something different.

These were staged and set up in one-man production mode using tripod, wireless speedlites, and remote shutter release, with me as the subject. The location was ideal for scenes with criminal undertones. The others form our group had gone off to shoot in other buildings on their own, so I was left in the cold, dark, emptiness, which got a little unnerving at some points.

busted

in cold darkness

the frisk

the meeting

DJE

Photo of the Week 2014-07-28

Recently, after sharing a video lamenting the loss of many farms and the associated barns that dot the rural landscape, Alan suggested an outing to a couple of local abandoned barns to capture them before they too are gone. As long as I have known him, Alan has been drawn to abandoned farm locations and has many images depicting such scenes.

One our earliest outings together took place over 6 years ago at the then abandoned McWilliams farm near my home. Over the next couple of years, we enjoyed a few visits there and watched as the barn deteriorated further until ... after vandals torched the house, equipment moved in and demolished all structures. The site is now a vacant lot in a new industrial subdivision, the image of the barn lives on in memory and some of our photographs..

With pangs of regret for not having visited McWilliams more, our planned visit to other structures still standing, perhaps not for long, had stirred something in me. We, three, managed to visit only one of the intended locations on this outing, a place known to some as "Studio 32". We spent time leisurely sketching, walking, photographing and capturing the scene, each in our own way. Initially, I moved off to a spot to get a different view and after completing a couple of sketches, stopped to analyze precisely what it what was that had drawn me to that spot. A small area of the scene I had just sketched included the remnants of an old fence, it's line leading  away and eventually to the side of the barn.

fence to the barn

I see myself getting back to making time for sketching when I go on my photography outings.

DJE