Chris,
this is a very fine story. Indeed, sometimes the most interesting
things are nextdoors and a bull-dozer is needed to come in action :)
When I looked at the picture I had a completely different setting in
mind. I thought it was a drying kind of barn, because the light is
coming in so beautifully through the planks of the ceiling. I thought
it was a simple structure out in the fields!
I'm working at the "restauration and conservation" section of the
university of Delft/architecture, and it is amazing to see what is
thrown away or broken down. Otoh, I sometimes feel we are too romatic
a bunch of people liking all these "old things". I like these things
not only because of beauty (sometimes they're not), but mostly
because of the way things are made, with attention to detail, and to
last a long time.
That is a quality which seems to be forgotten in our society and in
particular with a whole big bunch of architects, but most certainly
not all! Sergison Bates, Peter St-John in the UK, Zumthor in Swiss,
Miller & Maranta, Pierre Hebbelinck just nextdoors. Pierre just gave
a "walking lecture" in our school about one fine project in the south
of our country (<http://architectuur.phlimburg.be/krantje/2009/
massalezing%20hebbelinck.pdf>) Where you can still feel the attention
for detail, but in a contemporary way.
Getting off topic here :) Just to say that it is a pity that
interesting things are disappearing, and it is even more a pitty not
replacing them with things better (but what is that: better?).
To me, the image got even better (haha) knowing this story behind it!
Iwert
Op 21-feb-09, om 02:10 heeft Chris Crawford het volgende geschreven:
> Iwert,
>
> I found the dress in the walk-in attic of an abandoned farmhouse on
> the edge
> of the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana. I had driven past the house
> many times
> for a year before going to photograph the place. It was close to an
> apartment I lived in at the time, but I never stopped to photograph it
> because the outside of the house wasn't so interesting.
>
> One Friday evening, I drove by the place and saw a bulldozer
> sitting in
> front of the house! That meant the place was going to be torn down,
> probably
> on the following Monday. So, the next day, Saturday, I went out and
> did some
> photos of the outside of the house. As I finished, I noticed a door
> was
> open, so I walked in. The inside was magnificent! There was an old
> cast-iron
> sink in the kitchen, and the living room had curtains still hanging
> on the
> windows. The whole inside floor was covered in ice, this was at the
> end of
> December, 2000. The sun was setting and I was out of film so I rushed
> downtown to the camera store and bought several rolls of 120 size
> Tmax 400.
> I had used Tmax 100 for my exterior shots, but it was dark in there
> so I got
> the 400 for inside.
>
> I drove back on Sunday and went inside. After photographing the
> sink and the
> living room, and a shower curtain in the bathroom doorway, I
> decided to try
> to go up the icy stairs to see if anything up there was interesting. I
> carried a heavy Manfrotto tripod and a huge Tamrac bag with my
> Mamiya 645
> kit (body, a couple of backs, 4 lenses, spotmeter, and the film) up
> the icy
> stairs with no handrail! I don't know how the hell I did that and
> got back
> down without falling.
>
> The bedrooms upstairs were not interesting, but I noticed a narrow
> hallway
> going off of one of the rooms to the walk-in attic. I went down
> there and
> THERE as the dress! I didn't even walk out onto the attic floor, it
> looked
> unsafe. I stood my tripod in the doorway and shot two rolls of film
> of the
> scene (the rolls were duplicates to ensure I'd have the shot if I
> screwed up
> developing one). I had never been and never have since been
> paranoid about
> losing a shot enough to duplicate shots on two rolls but this photo
> was SO
> PERFECT. It has been my most popular image by far. I think it was
> New Years
> Day, 2001 when I made the dress photo. The house was torn down the
> next day.
> There is a gas station there now.
>
> Here is the outside of the house:
> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com/fine_art/portfolio/abandoned/
> images/pics/d
> ress-house.jpg
>
> Here is the kitchen:
> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com/fine_art/portfolio/abandoned/
> photopages/si
> nk.htm
>
> Here is the bathroom shower door:
> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com/fine_art/portfolio/abandoned/
> photopages/sh
> ower.htm
>
> Here is the living room:
> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com/fine_art/portfolio/abandoned/
> photopages/li
> ving-room.htm
>
>
>
> --
> Chris Crawford
> Fine Art Photography
> Fort Wayne, Indiana
> 260-747-3962
>
> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio
>
> http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work!
>
>
>
--
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