I am often attracted to odd bits of the human-altered landscape. The ‘New Topographics‘ exhibition/genre of the mid-70s caught my imagination when I was a neophyte photographer. Thus, here are five examples in this genre from our trip.
The first photo was made truly in the “middle of nowhere” the morning we headed east from the Albertan Rockies. We were driving along at forty or fifty miles per hour when we passed this roadside telephone. I slowed as rapidly as I could (we were pulling the camper, after all), pulled to the side of the road and walked back a bit to make this photograph. I am unsure if this is a relic of the past or an essential service in a remote area without cell phone service.
The middle three photos were made in the town of Kerrobert in southwest Saskatchewan, near the border with Alberta; population is 970. We stopped initially in Kerrobert for gas. The building (barn, shed?) celebrating recent graduates was directly across the road from the gas pumps. We saw a few other similarly adorned structures on our trip. Alas, I did not make any other photographs in this vein.
About a mile up the road, in the middle of town, we stopped again at the post office. Joan wanted some stamps to mail postcards to her cousin Liz. While Joan was in the post office having a nice (long) conversation with the postmistress, I made a few photographs from nearby where we had parked.
The street was essentially deserted. An old pickup pulled up in front of the post office while I waited. The driver made a brief foray into the building presumably to check his mail box. On his way back to his vehicle he commented on the heat; it was 90+ deg. F and the sun was shining brightly. He was the only person or vehicle I saw during my ten or so minute wait. The third and fourth photos shown here were made while I stood near the car.
The final photo was made at the campground on our last night before heading home. I saw this photo in my minds eye while waiting in the car for Joan to arrange for a campsite. However, I had to wait several hours before I could make the exposure. By the time we had set up camp and wandered back over to make a photo, a kid had left a scooter at the right end of the bench. I made an exposure with the scooter in it. Just as I did so, a pickup truck pulled up in front of the bench and its occupants headed for the lake.
I returned to our campsite, we had supper and then headed down to the water ourselves. As we headed back to the camper, after a relaxing time at the waters edge, I noted that the scooter was gone. However the truck remained. Quite a while later, I saw that the truck had finally left and I meandered over to make the photograph I envisioned when we first arrived.
The next morning, we arose to heavy wildfire smoke. The water was barely discernible from the sky in the murk. I made a third exposure anyway. Of the three exposures, I prefer (and thus show) the image I had initially envisioned. It has the right balance… minimalist but not too minimalist!
Really cranking out these posts and i’m enjoying every one of them! Figured you would single out the unique angle/item/shot.
Thanks for sharing these.