Day 2 of 365

Abandoned on Tremont

It only took two days into the New Year and my photo a day resolution to get to the point where I shot just one subject and let that stand as my shot of the day. (We're still awaiting the first instance of "taking a picture just to fulfill the daily quota," however, because I would've taken this photo based on the dilapidated building under any circumstances. But I'm also not sure I would've had the camera in the front console of the car, ready to grab and take a quick shot, had I not set this ambitious goal for myself this year. So it's already paying off.

We were getting gas at a Sunoco station on Tremont St. in Boston's South End and I looked across the road at this boarded-up building on the corner of Tremont and Northampton St. I couldn't find much on these former stores online, though another Flickr user doesn't think Fred & Emma's has been open for some time. I'll have to ask Bryan if he knows anything about it, but he's only lived in the neighborhood for a little more than a year.

"Lighthouse over the rubble, Alcatraz," September 2005

Lighthouse over the rubble, Alcatraz

I take a lot of photos of things that are old and decrepit, but when I saw that challenge, Alcatraz is what came to mind first. It must have to do with the islands sordid past, its history as a prison and its remote location subject to the elements in harsh San Francisco Bay. Of all the things I've photographed that I've qualified as ruins, things like the Goddard Mansion in Maine and the Kruger Mansion at High Point, New Jersey, are parks and settings that soften their decrepitude. There were other Alcatraz photos I thought about but then passed over simply because they also had flowers or a view of San Francisco in the background that softened the image.

Weather-worn barn, North Jersey

Weather-worn barn, New Jersey, November 2005
Originally uploaded by DC Products.

It's not the best-composed photo, but I like it nonetheless. The diagonal power lines parallel the multi-tiered ground and the horizon line, which is both on a slight hill and also angled because I'm taking this from the window of the car, holding the camera at my side while I keep my eyes on the road at 45 mph. I didn't look at the camera at all to compose it; I saw the barn ahead, picked up the camera, and snapped the shot. I got enough of the barn and avoided the sun enough to feel happy with this as it is.

It's an old barn on some remote northern New Jersey roadside, probably Route 94 in Sussex County. Worn by the weather, it's got holes in the roof and is comprised now of almost nothing but sun-scorched and faded wood.

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This is the first time I'm playing with the "Blog This" feature on my Flickr gallery. It has some pros and cons, so we'll see if I keep it up.