Recent Road Trip and Urban Imgages

I have just completed a road trip to Indian for some projects. I wasn't able to photograph much but was able to try out the new Nikon D4s. Here are the first batch of images. 

Engine 8201 and Helicopter 

Factory Closed 

Small Town House 

Classic Small Town House Detail 

Fish Scales in need of Paint

Propane and Cardinal 

Death of the Blue Whale

This post is from a series of photos that I took this past summer. The images are from the demolition of a large US Steel warehouse in St. Louis. The area is being renovated and a new Ikea store just opened up. There is an irony to the fact that the new Ikea is blue and the old US steel warehouse was also blue. The structure was massive and very impressive not only in scale but detailing as well. The frame were very robust and yet they lay twisted on the ground as the demolition progressed. The "blue whale" is now gone awaiting some new Cortex facility.

Some New Urban Industrial Images

These images from East St. Louis and Granite City were shot at dusk under clear sky. The weather had cleared from a number of mid-day thunderstorms which produced tornado's across much of the Midwest. No trace of that hours later.

Elevator and Highway Sign

Merchant of Venice - Eppilogue

Steel Mill

Steel Color

Muted Colors

Near the River

Today's post is a series of new images from areas just South and North of the arch. It is a gritty industrial  area that is somewhat of a no man's land  but very near my office so I spend time here. I have photographed this area a lot and you will see many of the subjects already on the blog. The St. Louis flood wall separates the workings of the river, with its giant barges for moving heavy raw materials such as coal, grain and petroleum from the city. The area is laced with both highways and heavy rail lines. Roads and train trestles transition onto Bridges that cross the mighty river. Here in St. Louis the edge of the city along the Mississippi has very often been left to industry. Heavy smoke stack industry, warehouses and many types of things that have long since become obsolete in the American economy. Yet the river remains an ever active place. All manner of work seems to always be going on along the banks as she remains ever powerful. Vast amounts of materials being made loaded or processed along it. Certainly it is still shaping this landscape.

Images from a lunchtime photography! If you like or dislike these images please comment! Thanks!

New Bridge and Barge Conveyor

Arch and Sign

1970

 

Tracks and Shed

 

Tankers and Tracks

Crane Gears II After High Water

Barge Crane II

 

Trestles Black and White

Suck This Cold Mother!

As it used to be

These shoes were made for walking

Lifts and High Voltage Lines

Tonight I am posting an image that I took this afternoon. I call it Lifts and High Voltage.

The decline of analog photograpy- The Dissapearance of Darkness

As many of you know I have had an interest in photography since I was a kid. I had my first darkroom in the basement of my parents house when I was in 7th or 8th grade and continued to do film photography well through architecture school. Along with another prized possession, my Bach Stradivarius trumpet, my Nikon F and a bunch of lenses I had accumulated were stolen from my first house and for at least a time put an end to my photography hobby. Photography in the intervening years transformed and shortly after we started Oculus Inc., the architecture firm I own with my wife Lisa in 1994, digital camera's such as the Sony Mavica came onto the scene. For pure practicality and utility digital imaging was the way to go as we could immediately share and use the images for work. Photography for me had become both utilitarian and snapshots. Quick captures of project information or kids, family and events. Not seriously working to capture crafted artistic images. While I had been given a replacement film camera it was already pragmatically obsolete as it was much easier to use, even the sluggish, point and shoot digitals for taking work and family photographs. In the intervening decade film sales plummeted. Mirroring the decline of their analog devices/techniques such as hand drafting, typewriting, vinyl records and such, the analog photo industry almost evaporated over night. The speed of its transformation/decline has really been unprecedented in the history of technology. Today while there are very likely more images than ever being taken/captured film for most part is technically obsolete. Yesterday I downloaded and App on my Iphone which is Kodak's limp attempt to promote its very few remaining of analog film products. What was so immediately apparent was just how irrelevant to the society and economy this product has become. The last significant "volume" of film use/manufacture is for the movie industry which will likely be essentially film free for commercial purposes by 2015. Certainly there are a hand full of users who will continue to use film as their chosen media. Film is still capable of creating some of the best, most powerful images. It for the most part has not changed, unless it is no longer manufactured, but the world, technology and the society around it has. I have been seriously considering purchasing a Graflex "Speed Graphic" as a more convenient large format 4x5 camera to my Sinar F. I find the Sinar very difficult to use in the field where most of my artistic photography takes place. In the course of researching the Speed Graphic camera it has become even more apparent that film is still declining. I was researching less expensive black and white films to  use for example and I discovered that Photokemika or Efke had recently, August 2012, stopped production. I had assumed, wrongly it appears, that smaller offbeat companies like this would be able to remain alive serving a boutique market. It appears there is not enough profit for them to repair ancient film coating equipment and it was easier to just close up shop. With both movies and medicine making their last moves away from silver based analog film will there be enough product manufactured available for the dedicated art photographers to continue to practice their art form?

Today I came upon a serious photographer/writer who has been working on a project for that last few years regarding the decline of analog film photography industry. His name is Walter Burley. He has just had a book published about the project "The Disappearance of Darkness". I hope anyone who reads this does not think I am trying to predict the end of film or that I am supporting it. Quite the contrary. I am saddened by this the way I would be saddened by hearing of the passing of an old friend. But my sadness can't change reality. I am wondering however if I should make a continued effort to pursue film as a viable media. Should I invest more in one more camera that I may not use or which film may not be available for? I have a bunch of gear based around the use of film which would all become moot should the materials become too limiting. Already my preferred film choice E100G has been discontinued by Kodak and Fuji will base the continued manufacture of product on financial/commercial viability. We might be artists but they are a company who's purpose is to make money not art.

 

In any case look at Mr. Burley's site and his book. It is serious work about a subject that I value very much. Walter Burley - The Dissapearance of Darkness

JEAN-CLAUDE BERENS

Urban Visions Web Site



In my many searches for inspiration I came across this site. These are meticulously crafted HDR images of urban decay, architecture and landscapes. He is a self taught European photographer who lives in Luxembourg. Amazing stuff.


http://www.urbanvisions.lu/

Working in America-Washington Metal Fabricators

Worker

Worker 2

Tools of the Trade



Using the Machines

Parts

Can You Guess

Gone for the Day

Close Encounters



God is in the Details



Machines

Scrap !

Precision

Tubes in Black and White

Yesterday I did a photo shoot with some friends at a Washington Metal Fabricators. Unfortunately the plant was mostly finished for the day but it still presented a number of great shots. So much of the time I am shooting, dead or dying buildings and industrial locations so it was great to get to shoot a living, working plant. WMF is very much alive and well. Enjoy these images from a real live Midwestern manufacturing company.

The Death of the Merchant of Venice



Mississippi River and Merchants Bridge



A Giant in Decline

The Wound

Her Majesty

St. Louis

Today's post are from a recent series of images shot just North of the down town area of St. Louis. I call this the Death of the Merchant of Venice as it is in and around a recently renovated bridge across the Mississippi called what else the Merchant's Bridge. It connects North St. Louis with Venice IL. Just accross the river into Illinois is an Ameren UE power station which is being demolished. It is a place grand in scale and size as the river, the bridge and the power station as well as the views back toward the city are all grand in scale.