Portraits of Place

05/27/2010

Hoosac Tunnel East Portal

Filed under: Hoosac Tunnel,ruins — shaunoboyle @ 12:49 pm

East Portal Hoosic Tunnel

Another visit to the Hoosac Tunnel east portal in Florida MA this past weekend. On this visit the tunnel had less diesel smoke from passing trains, so I was able to get a better photograph.
I was photographing the ruins of the nearby compressor building. The compressor building, while there isn’t much left to look at now, converted water power into compressed air to power drills used during construction of the tunnel. Previous to this drilling for setting explosives was done by hand.
The infrastructure that was required for the construction of the compressor building was significant, requiring daming the Deerfield River and constructing a long canal to provide the turbines with water to drive the compressors. In the end the water supply proved to be unreliable, so the compressors were converted to steam power.
I included some photographs from Jerry Kelley’s website, where he has a great overview of the history of the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel.

Compressor Building

Compressor Building

Compressor Building in ruin - date unknown

Go here to see Jerry’s pages on the compressor and canal.
http://www.jkrails.net/Compressor.htm

http://www.jkrails.net/Dam.htm

05/17/2010

Plymouth Belvedere

Filed under: cars,curiosities,objects — Tags: , , , — shaunoboyle @ 6:47 am

One of the great things about heading out with your camera is finding the unexpected. I was hiking by a river, scouting for another project, when I stumbled upon this abandoned Plymouth Belvedere. I think it is a 1954 Belvedere, but not certain of that. It is quite well preserved, considering it had been sitting here for uncounted years. The doors were locked, windows shut. I’ll be following up with a revisit to this beautiful old car.

05/16/2010

Hoosac Tunnel – East and West Portals

Filed under: berkshires,curiosities,Hoosac Tunnel,rail — Tags: , , , — shaunoboyle @ 9:51 pm

Hoosac Tunnel - East Portal

Hoosac Tunnel West Portal

These photographs – both taken on the same day, show the east and west portal of the Hoosac Tunnel. I shot the west portal first, early in the morning, then drove over the Hoosac mountain range to get to the east portal, during which time a train came through, leaving a lot of diesel smoke in the tunnel. Still an interesting comparison of the two end of one of the oldest tunnels in the US. The west end is looking pretty shabby, with the remains of a broken door covering the original beautiful stone work entrance. This should be removed, it is a historic tunnel, bought with the lives of over 200 men during the 25 years of construction, and it deserves to be better tended and preserved. The two ends are almost 5 miles apart in a straight line, but the tunnel ascends from both ends to a high point in the center, so you can’t see through to the other portal.

05/12/2010

Seasons Greetings

Filed under: architecture,berkshires,residential — Tags: , — shaunoboyle @ 4:49 pm

Seasons Greetings

05/11/2010

Fig Tree

Filed under: architecture,berkshires,Hoosac Tunnel — shaunoboyle @ 9:21 pm

A new loosely defined project. Photograph the architecture, and whatever else is interesting, along a corridor defined by an old rail line. The idea is that the rail line was the seed that many of these towns and industries sprang from. So it is the root of these communtities, even though that rail line has all but ceased to exist.
An analogy that comes to mind is a strangler fig tree, which grows around a host tree. Eventually the host tree dies and decays and disappears, leaving a massive fig tree with a hollow interior the shape of the host tree. This project is all about shooting that fig tree, the interior and exterior.

Lens

Filed under: ruins — shaunoboyle @ 7:53 am

A moment in time is up at the New York Times Lens blog. This project captures a moment on May 2nd at 11am (east coast time) all around the world.

I’m still digging through the thousands of photographs to see if my shot made the cut, under nature and environment.  It is worth a look.

05/10/2010

Nature represented

Filed under: berkshires,curiosities,objects — Tags: , , , — shaunoboyle @ 6:58 am
Saw Whet Owls

If you dissect a bird

to diagram his tongue

you’ll cut the chord

articulating song

Weasels

 If you flay a beast

to marvel at the mane,

you’ll wreck the rest

from which the fur began

 

Stanza’s from  Trio Of Love Songs  by Sylvia Plath

05/09/2010

Cocktails and Bowling

Filed under: architecture,berkshires,curiosities,ruins — shaunoboyle @ 2:22 pm

cocktails and bowling

Does it get any better than cocktails and bowling?

05/06/2010

Brain of Trout – Brain of Hare

Filed under: curiosities,objects — Tags: , , , , — shaunoboyle @ 9:43 pm

I couldn’t resist these exquisite biology class models of brains. The models I photographed here are quite old, and show years of student handling. In the upper photo on the left is a trout brain, on right is a hare brain. In the lower photo, trout on left and pigeon brain on the right. I didn’t note what the center model was, anyone know, or care to hazard a guess?

The models are made by the Denoyer-Geppert Co., and a quick visit to their website shows some excellent anatomy models. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t find any fish, amphibian or bird brains listed on their current web catalog.
Hare brain and bird brain, now we have the models to see what they actually look like.

05/05/2010

Pittsfield, MA

Filed under: architecture,berkshires,industrial,ruins — Tags: , , , — shaunoboyle @ 9:48 pm

Night photographs of this post-industrial city near where I grew up. I shot these in 2002-2003 with a hand held 3-megapixel point & shoot camera. I like the sketchy nature of the images, almost like drawings. I’m interested in the old neighborhoods near the industrial area, in the true heart of the city. More from this series linked here.

05/04/2010

Sunday shoots

Filed under: architecture,rail,ruins — shaunoboyle @ 10:09 am

Silo's

I’m working on a photography project, and am finding that early Sunday mornings are a great time to get out and take photographs. It’s quiet, people are sleeping in, and the streets are empty. Taking photographs outside in public view tends to draw a lot of attention. Especially if you are photographing something unusual, like a factory, an old house, or a railroad bridge. Everyone wants to know what I am up to, if I am some sort of threat. So I like shooting on Sunday mornings because it offers me some space to work in. This photograph is of a pair of silo’s found along an old rail line. These are relics of when that line was a big influence on the industrial development along its route. Now it’s very lightly used, and these ruins stand as memories to that industrial past.

05/01/2010

It Means So Much to Keep in Touch

Filed under: architecture,objects,ruins — Tags: , , — shaunoboyle @ 6:00 pm

Telephone Directory

Old things interest me, they are evocative, they have a rich visual language. Most of my work is about old things – buildings, objects, even landscapes. Why give so much attention to old things? It is what interests me, I’m drawn to it. Even after photographing this subject for over 20 years, I still find it interesting. It is a combined interest in archaeology, local history and the visual pleasure of aged surfaces. Memory plays an important role in this work. Also just being curious about my surrounding and what I see – wanting to connect the dots. Objects, and even buildings, seen as artifacts, are much different than having experienced them when they were in use. When function leaves these things, they become something different. Symbols, representative of something else, evoking another time and reality. They are rich, these old places and things, visually, historically. They are curiosities.

bazaar/ curiosities

Filed under: books — Tags: , , — shaunoboyle @ 9:06 am

This is a preview of my latest self-published book available at Blurb.com. The title is bazaar/ curiosities, and is the result of 4 years of taking photographs at flea markets, garage sales and old antique shops. It is a study of the curiousities found at these places. This book is entered in the Photography Book Now juried book competition. You can see a preview of some pages in the book by playing the above preview. The book is large 11″x13″, so qualifes as a coffee table book, and the photograph on each page are large. The price of the book may be alarming @ $117.95, but one off print on demand books are unique, and expensive to make one at a time. You are buying something that is likely to be owned by only a handfull of people, so is quite unique. The printing quality is high, on heavy paper, and the book layout and design is simple yet elegant. Follow the link above if interested in purchasing the book.

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