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12/08/2004 03:59:39 PM · #1 |
Over the years I have shot far too little of nothing. Buy nothing I mean empty fields with little or nothing in them. Over the years these fields are build on and I am always sorry I did not get a record of what it looked like before hand.
On occasion I have lucked out as in this example,
This first photo was taken in 2001 shortly after we moved into our house. There were a lot of empty lots at the time and I did manage to get some of that photographed.
Photo from 2001
This second photo is from this year showing what has happened in the last few years. Without the first photo we would tend to forget what it looked like before all the new houses were build.
Photo from 2004
In the last few years I have kicked myself more then once for not photographing the areas of nothing that we have around town. There has been a lot of building and I am missing the before photos from most of it. So I am now going around and photographing all the nothing that is still around. When I am in the car with my wife I will shoot a ton of photos looking out the side window, she asks âwhat are you taking photos of?â and I answer ânothingâ.
So go out and take lots of photos of nothing, in a few years you will be glad you did.
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12/08/2004 04:20:40 PM · #2 |
Along a similar line, I was going through some old photo albums of mine earlier in the week and realized something...
The amount of time I pick up my camera to photograph portraits, or challenge submissions, or events, and not taking pictures of family get togethers or just snapshots of the kids, I'm missing out on something that I use to do with my point and shoot film camera... that is just recording life. I had so many memories come rushing back to me as I saw my kids grow up in all those snapshots. A lot of the shots weren't birthday parties or holidays, they were just snaps. Nowdays I rarely take just snapshots of daily goings on, probably due to having to upload, process and make available the pics. Maybe I should just keep 1 of my compact flash cards for unedited snaps and whenever the moment arises I put that in my camera and just shoot sRGB jpegs on it, then take it to the drugstore when it's full and get them all printed out. Just like in the old days!
-danny |
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12/08/2004 04:20:52 PM · #3 |
You should see where I first lived in Alberta 5 years ago. Where once there was prairie, there's now hundreds/thousands of houses. Whole neighborhoods. Actually, from month to month there are entire new areas. INSANE. (I'm talking about Airdrie for anyone who's familiar with the area).
People gotta live, though. |
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12/08/2004 04:28:46 PM · #4 |
I agree. My entire town has been bulldozed to the ground to build Mc Mansions over the last 15 years, 5 in particular. Now the new residents complain of over-crowding and the fact that there are animals running around.
One enlightened guy I overheard said to his friend "Why don't the bears just go live in the woods where they belong?" He lives in one of the new developments that used to be a forest. Exactly where the bears used to live until "Mountain Reserve" was built.
Now our local government can not find a place to build a new highschool since they let the developers put up new neighborhoods in every square inch of the town. So what is their solution? They want to get a court order to seize 200 acres of land from a woman who's family has owned that property since the 1920's! They want to just take it from her since she won't sell.
My family has been in the town since the 30's and it's been devastating to watch this happen. I guess all I'm saying is appreciate those little places that seem like nothing. Chances are it will soon be a parking lot. |
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12/08/2004 04:34:44 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by rscorp:
I agree. My entire town has been bulldozed to the ground to build Mc Mansions over the last 15 years, 5 in particular. Now the new residents complain of over-crowding and the fact that there are animals running around.
One enlightened guy I overheard said to his friend "Why don't the bears just go live in the woods where they belong?" He lives in one of the new developments that used to be a forest. Exactly where the bears used to live until "Mountain Reserve" was built.
Now our local government can not find a place to build a new highschool since they let the developers put up new neighborhoods in every square inch of the town. So what is their solution? They want to get a court order to seize 200 acres of land from a woman who's family has owned that property since the 1920's! They want to just take it from her since she won't sell.
My family has been in the town since the 30's and it's been devastating to watch this happen. I guess all I'm saying is appreciate those little places that seem like nothing. Chances are it will soon be a parking lot. |
I'm curious - where do you live? This whole thread is something that has saddened me for years. I try to find pictures of "yesteryear" of ordinary places all the time. They fascinate, but sadden me. It appears to be global, too, unfortunately. I think Scottwilson has the right idea!
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12/08/2004 06:19:37 PM · #6 |
| I live in NJ in a town called Sparta. |
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12/08/2004 06:21:06 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by rscorp:
I live in NJ in a town called Sparta. |
Thanks for answering. But sorry to hear what's happening.
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12/08/2004 06:29:02 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by rscorp:
I live in NJ in a town called Sparta. |
Blimey. Do you get much trouble from Trojans there?
E |
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12/08/2004 06:29:10 PM · #9 |
[hijack] on a similar track, shoot everything in an area. then wait. several years. and come back and shoot everything again. compare. facinating.
I haven't done this my self, but last summer I saw an exhibition by ........ahh, can't remember now....... where the photog went to the small town of Siglufjordur in E Iceland and shot every building in town (appx 100-200) and then again 9 years later. Some houses fell into disrepair, most were in better shape. Sometimes even the same car parked in front.
[/hijack]
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12/08/2004 06:33:13 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by crabappl3:
Along a similar line, I was going through some old photo albums of mine earlier in the week and realized something...
The amount of time I pick up my camera to photograph portraits, or challenge submissions, or events, and not taking pictures of family get togethers or just snapshots of the kids, I'm missing out on something that I use to do with my point and shoot film camera... that is just recording life. I had so many memories come rushing back to me as I saw my kids grow up in all those snapshots. A lot of the shots weren't birthday parties or holidays, they were just snaps. Nowdays I rarely take just snapshots of daily goings on, probably due to having to upload, process and make available the pics. Maybe I should just keep 1 of my compact flash cards for unedited snaps and whenever the moment arises I put that in my camera and just shoot sRGB jpegs on it, then take it to the drugstore when it's full and get them all printed out. Just like in the old days!
-danny |
Danny, you are SO right! Thank you for your post and the reminder that not everything has to be a set-up, oh-so-serious, studio shot!
Merry Christmas!!!
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12/08/2004 07:06:09 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by digistoune:
Originally posted by crabappl3:
Along a similar line, I was going through some old photo albums of mine earlier in the week and realized something...
The amount of time I pick up my camera to photograph portraits, or challenge submissions, or events, and not taking pictures of family get togethers or just snapshots of the kids, I'm missing out on something that I use to do with my point and shoot film camera... that is just recording life. I had so many memories come rushing back to me as I saw my kids grow up in all those snapshots. A lot of the shots weren't birthday parties or holidays, they were just snaps. Nowdays I rarely take just snapshots of daily goings on, probably due to having to upload, process and make available the pics. Maybe I should just keep 1 of my compact flash cards for unedited snaps and whenever the moment arises I put that in my camera and just shoot sRGB jpegs on it, then take it to the drugstore when it's full and get them all printed out. Just like in the old days!
-danny |
Danny, you are SO right! Thank you for your post and the reminder that not everything has to be a set-up, oh-so-serious, studio shot!
Merry Christmas!!! |
What she said!!
I think I'll go shooting tomorrow for no reason at all.
Thanks, and Merry Christmas! |
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12/08/2004 07:07:25 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by scottwilson:
There has been a lot of building and I am missing the before photos from most of it. So I am now going around and photographing all the nothing that is still around. When I am in the car with my wife I will shoot a ton of photos looking out the side window, she asks âwhat are you taking photos of?â and I answer ânothingâ.
So go out and take lots of photos of nothing, in a few years you will be glad you did. |
That is an awesome idea...I never even thought of that. There are a few areas around here that used to be wooded and are now are home to large plots of mansions or businesses. I might set out to photograph nothing this very weekend!
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12/08/2004 07:09:06 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by Kylie:
I agree. My entire town has been bulldozed to the ground to build Mc Mansions over the last 15 years, 5 in particular. Now the new residents complain of over-crowding and the fact that there are animals running around.
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You sound like you live in my hometown... |
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12/08/2004 07:10:56 PM · #14 |
I other words"Buy land they are not making anymore of it"
I am happy I live out in the boonies but I see more and more farmland sold and houses going up fast!
Message edited by author 2004-12-08 19:48:40. |
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12/08/2004 07:12:08 PM · #15 |
| I always take photos of nothing. Nothing is beautiful, its pure, its fresh and new. Something is where most people fall down. Something is often unimportant, superficial, materialistic., If people began to appreciate the nothing some more then they would be able to understand the something without being overcome by it. |
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12/08/2004 07:15:00 PM · #16 |
[quote=rscorp] My entire town has been bulldozed to the ground to build Mc Mansions...
We have been house hunting off and on, and any nice modest sized houses (almost all of which were built before 1985) sell in sometimes under a week. All that is being built around here, and they're building constantly, are big 4 bedroom, 21/2 bath, neutral brown siding, with no windows on one side houses. Or "luxury townhouses" out in the middle of a once field.
We live in Lancaster PA and a few years ago there was an article in the paper about how our Amish population was moving out to more rural areas, a lot of them to Ohio.
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12/08/2004 07:15:53 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by rscorp:
I live in NJ in a town called Sparta. |
LOL... My uncle lives in Sparta and for YEARS i've heard him say this - your post just echo'd him word for word. (Uncle Bruce? Is that you??) Just moved to back to NJ and I'm noticing the same thing in the town where I now live (and grew up in). Amazing changes month after month. Maybe I should start taking pictures just to document the changes. |
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12/08/2004 10:21:31 PM · #18 |
You mean that's happening where you are? I thought it was unique to Ontario! Heh! There's a billboard on Highway 400 that has a picture of a cow on it and says "Moooooooove up to xxxxx". I laugh now because it's nothing but houses, as seen in this shot:
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12/09/2004 05:17:24 PM · #19 |
I love shooting nothing too ... with a twist. I will often come back and take the same exact scene in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter ... and a few times inbetween. IF I can ... without damaging anything. I will mark with stones or small boards where my tripod legs go ... and take notes on lens, height of camera from ground ... etc. All to help set up the exact shot time after time.
LOL .. I have come back to find my markers moved or gone.
Have fun with it.
Melanie
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