The Village of Canajoharie, home of Beechnut is slowing dying. Beechnut is relocating 20 miles away to replace their 100 year old plant and slowly a ghost town is forming. Wander around and you see abandoned factories, buildings and old mills. I saw this scene last week and was struck by the drabness, decay and coldness of the winter's day. I could have shot it in color as the buildings were red brick and paint, but the grayness of the day and its "mood" directed me to shoot in a high grain monochrome called "Film Grain" on the Panasonic Lumix LX5. Wide angle of 24mm captured the scene. The camera chose the f stop. With multifunction modes in newer digital cameras you can choose settings that reflect yours and the scene's mood. Jeff
MORNING LIGHT IMAGES Selected photographs of Jeff Perkins. I'm both a physician and serious photographer. Accomplishments: Permanent Exhibit at The Albany International Airport entitled "Arrival", located at the Security Entrance. This is a 3 panel 18 foot long panorama of stitched images reflecting our feelings of safe journey after 9-11. Exhibits at The Soho Gallery in NYC and The Photo Center of Troy, NY Enjoy. Jeff
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Canajoharie
The Village of Canajoharie, home of Beechnut is slowing dying. Beechnut is relocating 20 miles away to replace their 100 year old plant and slowly a ghost town is forming. Wander around and you see abandoned factories, buildings and old mills. I saw this scene last week and was struck by the drabness, decay and coldness of the winter's day. I could have shot it in color as the buildings were red brick and paint, but the grayness of the day and its "mood" directed me to shoot in a high grain monochrome called "Film Grain" on the Panasonic Lumix LX5. Wide angle of 24mm captured the scene. The camera chose the f stop. With multifunction modes in newer digital cameras you can choose settings that reflect yours and the scene's mood. Jeff
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This is a haunting and beautiful photograph. As a resdident, I agree Canajoharie is struggling right now. I hope we don't turn into a ghost town. And there is a core of citizens and business owners who refuse to give up! Did you notice that the downtown buildings have almost all been restored and spruced up? And our magnificent new bridge? In April our town won BEST TASTING WATER in New York State (beating long time title holder NYC). There is a deal in the works to lease some of our waterworks to a bottling company brining about 50 new jobs.
ReplyDeleteAlso our Candy Company, Richarson Brands is expanding and adding more jobs. Of course we still have our new museum with a world class art collection featuring I believe the largest single collection of Winslow Homers in the world and many other works by American artists. We have a new fitness center in town, a new cafe and a marvelous school system. Please come and visit us again, perhaps in the spring when it is prettier out in general.. meantime, LOVE your photographs! Our museum, The Arkell Museum, has frequent exhibits of local artists' work and you should definitely submit!!again!
Hi Michelle! Thank you for your comments about my photo as well as your home, Canajoharie. I hope your town thrives as it is a physically beautiful place. Some of the Victorian era houses up on the hill were striking. I wish you the best of luck. I promise to return in the Spring and look forward to posting some photos that reflect the positives of Canajoharie.
ReplyDeleteJeff Perkins
HI again Jeff, it so happens that our museum has a call out for submissions to our Community Galleries so I just wanted to give you the info:
ReplyDeleteCanajoharie Library We are looking for artists to show in our community galleries in 2011. If you are an artist or know an artist fill out this application and you may be able to have a solo show at the library and museum in 2011! Deadline is February 4, 2011.
http://www.clag.org/artistapp.pdfwww.clag.org
Best wishes and Happy New Year, Maybe we'll see you in the spring!
Hi, Jeff:
ReplyDeleteI'm a writer over in Little Falls, and occasionally I blog for http://www.roadsideonline.com/
under the "Riding Shotgun" tab, Travels with Teri. For free, I should say, or rather, for glory. ;)
Anyway, I have just written a short piece on the problem of old buildings, and I mention Canajoharie. I found your beautiful b/w photo here and was wondering if you would let me use it to illustrate my article. Of course I will credit you and I can also link back to your blog--and if you wish, you can link back to mine.
What say? Many thanks for considering this and my best wishes,
Teri Dunn Chace
PS I am at terichace@aol.com.
ReplyDeleteThx!