Ghost Signs and Power Lines

Globe Mills

Poultry Feeds

Abandoned buildings

Fences

Vacant lots

A solitary figure cutting cross the frame

toward the stop sign

Taken 30 November 2018.

Abandoned Church Building

Taken 29 November 2018.

Seen Better Days

Abandoned and neglected.

Ever had one of those days?

Taken 10 October 2018.

Eagle Cafe

The Eagle Cafe has been closed for many years.

There is still a satellite dish on the roof, though.

You can see that the eagle flapped its wings when the sign worked.

Taken 8 May 2018.

HERE is a real estate listing from at least six years ago.

The photo on the listing shows how the property has changed.

You can see part of the sign in the upper left of that photo,

plus a tree that is now gone,

and an awning over the front windows,

stone facade,

and even a pay phone!

At the Pool

At an abandoned indoor swimming pool:

Abandoned #1

This is not a beautiful,

heart-warming photograph.

It might be soul-stirring, though.

And...

interesting

in terms of 

composition,

lines, texture;

even color.

It is post-modern

assemblage art.

But it was accidentally assembled

by anonymous hands

and the unpredictable forces

of nature.

Taken 7 October 2011.

Old School

A desolate training room

in an abandoned building.

Who knows

how many young people

spent time learning new things

in this room

before it was relegated

to its new age of artistic expression?

Taken 7 October 2011.

Blue Wall #4

Something about

the condition

of the paint

draws the eye.

And

the shades of blue,

with a wedge of clear blue sky

rakishly adorning an upper corner;

then

the lines and the shadows,

especially all of those

straight, parallel lines

crowned by the single

curving line of the roof,

foreshadowed in miniature

by the vent-cap

just below the roof line...

plus

the three louvered vents

leaning into the frame

at opposing angles...

and the corner

formed by the two walls

coming together -

a focal point

that calls attention to itself.

Pleasing.

Taken 7 October 2011.

Reflections of Abandonment

The former Fort Ord on California's Central Coast

still has many unused buildings

nearly twenty years after the post was closed.

This is a wet loading dock behind one of the buildings.

Taken 7 October 2011.

Chair #7

Perfectly sturdy,

healthy,

useful

chair;

tossed aside

when the building it belonged to

was abandoned.

If a chair could curl up

in a fetal position,

I think this lonely chair

would do it.

Or

maybe this chair

is moving toward

The Light.

Taken 8 October 2010.

Street Art #18: Fort Ord

Not sure

why all that is left

is what appears to be

the background

of some kind of

unit emblem.

Someone started to restore it

and changed their mind?

This is one of dozens of abandoned buildings

at the former Fort Ord.

Taken 8 October 2010.

A Road Less Traveled... Lately

I'm taking a bit of a risk here

because I do not know the story behind the place

in the following photographs.

But I found the visual parable

SO compelling...

Below this broken sign

is a gate

closed,

chained,

locked.

And the view past the locked gate:

...a languishing path...

...to a house of faith:

A closer look reveals

broken windows,

failing shingles,

grafitti...

Is our world becoming

a wilderness of abandoned faith?

Taken 7 February 2011.

Street Art #11: Monterey

No idea who "dweeb" is (or was)

but whoever it was

at one time found it important

(or otherwise appealing or compelling)

to advertise themselves

on the side of this abandoned building.

This looks like relatively old work

because it is faded

and because it appears to have been

applied before the growth of the

scraggly weeds almost

obscuring the tag.

I know many would agrue

that this should in no way

be glorified as "art."

It is straight up vandalism

and not particularly aesthetically attractive.

My interest is not so much in the artistic value of this obscure "piece."

(and we can have the conversation about what constitutes "art" some other time and place)

I am interested in the social statement(s),

about which we admittedly can only speculate.

What is the story behind "dweeb"?

What does this form of expression

say about our society in general?

Here are a few more pics of the abandoned area

around this grafitti to provide context.

These broken windows are directly above "dweeb."

Standing in the same place, but turning to the right.

These pics (above and below)

are from a similar building across the courtyard.

These pictures were taken early on the morning of 8 October 2010.