Wallpaper Wednesday - After the Storm

Download the 16x9 version

This week's free wallpaper is sunset on the farm. This shot was taken following a wonderful thunderstorm. It is available for download in the widescreen format only.

Drive-by Photography

Farm Life

Old Country School

A few weeks ago I was able to get out of the house for several hours with my good friend, and fellow photographer Nathan Smith.

We drove around the countryside, like we do, just not frequently enough, just looking at things in new places, talking about our families, photography and making each other laugh constantly; in case you didn't know, Nathan is a funny guy.

We stopped at this old school house and snapped a few frames. It is a classic country school architecture that appears to still be in use, just not as a school any more.

Still in Use

Across the street is an old run down building that appears to still be use as a form of storage.

I simply loved the lines of the scene and the blinking red lights indicating a four-way stop. You don't see many of these lights any more.

Old School

Decay

Pigs in the Road

Morning Bacon

Nathan getting Pork

Babe

Such and interesting wall

Window

Mexico circa 1928

I turned back to the school for a few more frames.

The hard angles of the corner of the roof combined with the round, old school light fixture protruding into the sky really caught my eye.

I loved the rust of the light fixture itself, combined with the rustic wiring that fell out of code compliance with the still functioning light bulb.

Nathan in HDR

More Decay

Caboose

I turned my attention to the old rustic building once again.

The detail in the old wood was simply stunning to my eye.

In addition to the wood, the ground cover and the window and doorway were attention grabbers.

All in all this was a great first stop.







Then we drove on into Marion, Oregon. A small unassuming town of about 15 people, and two pigs.

We take a random turn to head up a dead end road at the top of Marion Hill.

We drove past an old man walking his dog, uphill.

We come around a corner and there are two pigs standing in the middle of the road. Random. Two pigs, middle of nowhere, in the middle of the road.

Nathan and I get out of the car and start shooting and laughing about the absurd randomness of the situation.


The pigs were very friendly.

They walked up on us like we had been feeding every day of their lives.

They sniffed us, rubbed up against us.

A man drove by in his truck, obviously amused at seeing two grown men with cameras in their hands laughing about the pigs in the road.

He stopped long enough to chuckle, "Careful, them pigs might eat ya." And he drove off.





I had to get the obligatory photo of a photographer taking a photo.

So to the right, Nathan crouched down, keeping his distance, and captured his photo of morning pork.

We were both a little leery of the pigs at first. My exposure to pigs has been limited in my life, so I don't know their behavior well and I have been left with what I have seen in television shows at my pork-knowledge-base, which has been pigs being used to devour dead bodies.

Part of me actually thought, "I wonder if they ate their owners and that is why they are free."



But after some time, I got comfortable with them, and they with me.

Pigs are pretty cool animals. They allowed me to pet them, they sniffed me, tried to nibble at my clothes and for the most part didn't care that we were in their turf.

Neither charged like wild boars.

Neither actually ate into our flesh.

They were just hanging out and stopped in to say hello when we go out of the car.



We then jumped in the car and didn't stop until we arrived in Scio, Oregon.

Well, there was one stop or two stops; a garage sale and a cemetary in Jefferson.

One of the first things Nathan did upon our arrival in Scio was take a photo of a wall.


I know, what you might be thinking. A wall? There was some really cool textures on that wall.

This is much of what many of Nathan and my outings are like. Just random findings along the roadways of Oregon.

We don't always find gold, but we can almost always find a texture or two.

After photographing Nathan photographing a wall, I turned to the architecture of the building.

Very cool windows, doors, chimneys and odds spaces full of decay and debris.

The photo to the right is of some of the debris. It was a random little room that has long since been abandoned.

Add caption

Below is more photos of the little town of Scio. A quaint little town with some fantastic and fun photo opportunities.

Nothing New

Gettin' is Gone

Samples from the first 24 Scans

Okay... I am excited about this project, possibly overly excited, but what can I say. I have been waiting for years for this opportunity. So I thought that I was would share a sample of the first 24 scans. 24 scans that came from 1 of 6 tubs of these glass plates, and this tub isn't even the fullest of the tubs. I plan on scanning and converting one tub of these plates a weekend.

So here are the samples from the first pass...

Lanscapes:

See the full gallery on Posterous

People:

See the full gallery on Posterous

Flowers:

Farms:

See the full gallery on Posterous

 

The Farm House

This is one of my personal favorite drawings. I saw this in a schetchbook and decided to try and replicate it (without tracing - all free-hand) and this was the result after about two hours of work.. which happens to be the maximum span of my attention.

The Barn

This drawing is not remarkable in any way, shape or form. But I did draw it and that counts for something to someone.

Mountain Farm

The Farm

This drawing was one of my first barns. I was unsure of how to finish the top left corner of the background forest and decided that enough was enough. I may redo this barn at some point in the future, but for now... I find it satisfying.

The Barn

A simple barn using only two pencils.

Farm House

This was one of more detailed drawings. There are certain aspects of this that I enjoy, and others that I don't. Things like shading, structure and detail are hit and miss on here.... I think that is what I like about.. it makes me feel awkward... and I like that about it.

First Few Drawings

This was one of the first barns drawn by me.

My first attempt at an apple. I was really focuses on the shading which didn't transfer well from paper to digital photo.