Showing posts with label Tri-X. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tri-X. Show all posts

Saturday, April 15, 2023

The Rio Grande Valley and the Road North (TX 07)

The Rio Grande Valley is the floodplain formed by the Rio Grande River near its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico. The valley spans the border of Texas and Mexico and is a rich cultural and natural habitat region. Brownsville, at 25.9º N, is the southernmost city in Texas. It is at the same latitude as Miami. But Key West, at 24.55º N is the southernmost USA city. 

We drove to the Rio Grande Valley for the fantastic birding. Being warm, humid, and far south, many semi-tropical species from Mexico and Central America occasionally nest in or visit the Rio Grande Valley. It is one of the world's major birding and butterfly hotspots. The annual Rio Grande Birding Festival, attracts participants from all over the world. 

We missed the festival by one week, but that meant we were able to get motel rooms with no difficulty.

A Quick Look


Room with a View: America the Beautiful - McAllen version

The cities of McAllen and Brownsville have historical origins, but most of the urban area is modern strip mall, asphalt, and commercial - pretty ugly.


The Wall, West Military Road, Mission, Texas (90mm ƒ/4 Elmar lens)
Bollard fencing

We were utterly astonished to round a curve on West Military Highway in Mission and see that Trump's Wall is still under construction. This was serious work with major earth work underway on the south (river) side of a tall concrete retaining wall topped with steel bollard fencing. This is a major expense, but I am glad that Mexico is paying for it. (We all know how that absurd fantasy worked out.) 

How will they handle streams, runoff, and animal corridors?

South of the wall, farm fields occupy the floodplain. We could not see the Rio Grande River from the wall. 

Mesquite tree, Resaca de la Palma State Park, Brownsville (Hasselblad, 80mm, Tri-X 400 film)
Resaca de la Palma State Park, Brownsville


The Resaca De La Palma State Park & World Birding Center is one of the fantastic birding environments in the Rio Grande Valley. The park includes the largest tract of native habitat in the World Birding Center network. We did not see too many unusual birds but spent a nice half day walking the trails. 

After a few days, a major rain front passed through the Valley and we reluctantly headed back north to Houston. 



No more gas? 6th Street, Kingsville (Fuji Acros film, Leitz 35mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens)


Route 77 goes through some rather empty countryside. I was surprised at the number of abandoned gas stations. Gas stations that can't make money in Texas?? These pumps have the same Cyclopean alien look that I have photographed in Mississippi. Lost in Space or in Texas?


Riviera Food Store, 6266 S. Hwy. 77, Riviera, Texas (Hasselblad 80mm)
The trumpet player, Riviera Food Store, 6266 S. Hwy. 77, Riviera (Hasselblad 80mm)

If you want a snack, supplies, or a giant ceramic pot, stop at The Riviera Food Store. 


A Couple of Color Examples


Mr. Trump's toilet being delivered! Does it have a telephone?
The colors can be cheerful in the Rio Grande Valley - great visuals (and not too subtle)

This ends out brief excursion to South Texas. Do visit the Rio Grande Valley. But beware, it is a long drive. 

The square photographs are Kodak Tri-X 400 film from my Hasselblad 501CM camera. The rectangle frames are Arcos 100 film from my Leica M2. Thank you all for riding along.

Thursday, December 29, 2022

Mississippi Doors

End of Year Note

Dear Readers, this is the end of 2022. Thank you for reading and please add comments if something interests you. If you are looking for a certain topic, type a key word in the search box to the right. Most of my articles have been indexed by location or camera type, but the search tool will look for that word even within the text.


Doors

Some decades ago, I did a study of Greek doors. That was not too innovative because there were already tourist picture books on Greek doors for sale in bookstores and at the Athens airport gift shops. But still, Greece does have interesting doors, especially in the rural villages. When I make time, I will look over some of my old Greek slides for a revival here in Urban Decay. 

Some of you long term readers may remember the Doors of Nepal (click the link). 

Let us look at doors again, but here in Mississippi. We will take a semi-random tour around the state looking at unusual or interesting doors - portals to another world.


Jackson Southwest Hotel, 2648 US 80, west Jackson (Panatomic-X film, 50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)
Arlington mansion, Natchez (Tri-X Prof. film, 135mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar-S II lens, yellow-green filter)
Doorway to pleasure, Eagle Lake (Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 80mm Planar-CB lens). The outhouse is no longer extant, but I did use it while it stood.
Store in Hermanville (Rolleiflex 3.5E, Schneider 75mm Xenotar lens, Panatomic-X film)
Club next to former Jo-Anna Motel, North Washington Street, Vicksburg
Former corner store, 1620 Main Street, Vicksburg (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera)
Former store, Hwy 28, Union Church (Fuji Acros film, Canon 50mm ƒ/1.4 lens)
Burks Gro., Burk Road, Utica (GAF Versapan film, 50mm ƒ/3.5 Color-Skopar lens)
Slightly unused store, 2201 Simpson Highway, D'Lo (Tri-X 400 film, 90mm ƒ/6.8 Angulon lens)
Shed, Mississippi Basin Model, Buddy Butts Park, Jackson (TMax 100 film, Olympus Trip 35 camera)

What lies beyond these doors. Is there anything interesting? Just junk? A snake or two?

Thank you for following along. Standby for more Mississippi doors soon.


Thursday, November 3, 2022

The Mississippi Delta 39: Thornton

Thornton is the remnant of a town on US 49E south of Tchula and north of Yazoo City in the Mississippi Delta. Two dilapidated square-front commercial buildings remain on the only street in town. More buildings would have once formed a small commercial core. 


Silos and gin south of Thornton (Kodak Tri-X film, Fuji GW690II camera, 90mm ƒ/3.5 EBC-Fujinon lens, yellow filter, 1/250 ƒ/8)

I drove on 49E on a blazing hot day in 2020. This gin and the silos may be unused, but possibly in Autumn, when cotton is harvested, the gin is put back into operation. The frames above are from a medium format Fuji GW690II camera with Tri-X film (click any frame to see details at 2400 pixels wide.


Mark's store in Thornton (45mm lens, yellow-green filter)
Mr. Kevin hangin' out, Thornton (45mm lens)

In 2022, I drove back north on 49E but this time stopped in Thornton. Mr. Kevin was standing in front of one of the square buildings. At 11:00, he was already slurring and asked me if I came to see Mark. I said sure. Mark came out of the other square building and was in much better shape. He said his father formerly owned the building and ran a store. At this time, it looked like Mark lived there. I forgot to ask if they had safe drinking water. Other gents in town were also drinking or enjoying weed. Mark generously said I could photograph the store. They all admired my 42-year-old car, which is a conversation ice-breaker. Kevin said with a car like that, he could get the chicks.

J. Chambers Street view west, Thornton (45 mm lens, yellow-green filter)

The three last photographs are from a Hasselblad XPan panoramic camera and the 45mm ƒ/4 lens. The film was Fuji Acros, exposed at EI=80. The light was harsh and glarey.

For more articles about the Delta, type "Mississippi Delta" in the search box. Click any photograph above for more details.

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Good Stuff in the Attic: the Coca Cola Bottling Plant, Vicksburg

Dear readers, in my last article, I took photographs in the basement of the former Coca-Cola bottling plant on Washington Street in Vicksburg. The basement had some interesting heavy-duty machinery, patterns, shapes, pipes, and dust. How about the attic? The Open Market occupies the main floor of the old bottling factory and sells antiques and furnishings. I asked Lisa if I could photograph upstairs, and she graciously said I was free to go ahead. 


1977 payroll checks (with names removed)

I first went up to the attic with Mr. Cripps, the carpenter who rents the basement (see the previous article). Oh oh, trouble. A rooftop access trapdoor was open. A big egg was on the floor with some twigs and debris. A grumpy black vulture was on the roof beyond the trapdoor. We left the trapdoor and grumpy vulture alone. Later, some guys moved the egg and some straw out to the flat rood and closed the trapdoor. I hope a chick hatched successfully.


Roof ventilator turbines (minor fill flash to the right)

The attic is reasonably intact, and the the roof appears to be sound. This was a well-built structure. The attic floor is concrete, so no danger of falling through rotted flooring. 


Burroughs check-printing machine (1 sec. ƒ/8)
Burroughs check-printing machine platen detail (1 sec. ƒ/5.6)

This machine with a complicated keyboard almost surely printed the checks that you see in the first photograph. It may have also tabulated the amounts on some other media, maybe paper tape? Burroughs was an old-line American industrial concern that started in the 1880s with adding machines and branched into more sophisticated payroll systems. They moved into digital computers and developed main-frame systems in the 1960s, with emphasis on the banking sector. 


Gearbox of unknown purpose

The attic did not have too much material so I descended one floor to what was once the office space of the bottling plant.


The lavatory had some nice old porcelain steel sinks with dual water valves and high backsplash. Notice the slightly raised lip to reduce splashing over the sides. Compare with the typical modern bathroom sink, which is guaranteed to allow splash all over the vanity/floor and a soap film mess on the sheetrock behind. The worst examples of style over function are the goofy glass bowls sitting up on a platform or vanity. Really dumb. 


Radiator for hot water heat
Classic GE drop-in range with east-to-use button controls

At some time, likely the 1970s, the company built a kitchen on the second floor. The cabinets were generic, but the sink and range were matching avocado. Nice! The GE range had easy to use push button controls. The first button on the right is off, and the buttons to the left are for progressively higher temperatures. You can use them by touch and do not need reading glasses to see a programmable screen or LED display. Sometimes technology does not make machines easier to use. My former home in Massachusetts had a GE range with such buttons. Simple and reliable.


Former corner office? (Fuji X-E1 digital file converted to B&W)
Twist a Pepper Dr. Pepper bottle caps

These bottle caps contained numbers, possibly for some sort or promotion or prize. Twist enough caps from enough drinks and you get a prize (besides stomach rot).  



Finally, on the ground floor, a display of classic Coca-Cola bottles. I remember when these bottles contained 6.5 oz. And once upon a time, Coca-Cola was a treat that you drank possibly on Saturday afternoon or evening. A 6-pack lasted in the refrigerator all week. No one civilized drank soft drinks for breakfast or swilled it all day long in slurpy cups. How times have changed.... 


Sunday, October 16, 2022

Good Stuff in the Basement: the Coca Cola Bottling Plant, Vicksburg

1938 Coca-Cola bottling plant, 2133 Washington Street, Vicksburg

Dear Readers, you likely know that I like old industrial sites with machinery, pipes, tubes, tanks, and other remnants of industry. The basement of the former Coca Cola bottling plant at 2133 Washington Street in Vicksburg, Mississippi, fits this criteria. This was the last bottling plant that the Biedenharn family built in Vicksburg. This sturdy 1938 brick industrial building stands at the corner of Washington Street and Bowman Street. 

Note, this is not the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum in downtown Vicksburg, where Coca-Cola was first bottled in 1894 (back when it still had coca in the secret ingredients). The family also operated another plant on Grove Street, later the site of the Vicksburg Steam Laundry. I have negatives of this building to scan one day (you know that fairy tale - one day....).

Here are some photographs of the basement from February of 2022. Mr. Anthony Cripps, a carpenter and cabinet maker, was renting the basement and generously let me photograph the old fittings and machines. He had run new fluorescent lights to illuminate the gloomy space. Most of the frames below had side-lighting from the dusty windows. Enjoy the shapes, patterns, and forms - industrial art.


Air compressor (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens, 1 sec. ƒ/11)
Compressor with a beer (80mm Planar-CB, 1 sec. ƒ/11.5)
Water-cooling jacket (80mm Planar with Proxar no. 1 close-up diopter)
Lubricator, manually cranked? (80mm Planar lens with Proxar no. 1 close-up diopter)
Back cap and bolt patters (80mm Planar-CB lens, 1 sec. ƒ/11)
GE electoral control box (80mm Planar-CB, ½ sec. ƒ/11)
Hot water boiler (1 sec. ƒ/11.5)
Fuse panel (4 sec. ƒ/11)
Among the hundreds of valves (1 sec. ƒ/5.6)
Stairway to upper shop (40 sec. ƒ/8 with minor fill flash on right)

The stairway was challenging. It was lit with a dim lightbulb above on the ceiling. My incident light meter measured 10 seconds at ƒ/8 on the center of the stairs. I used a 40 sec exposure to accommodate reciprocity of the film. I also added fill flash on the right, but it likely added very little light. 

Long-forgotten icebox (1 sec. ƒ/5.6½)

I took these photographs with my Hasselblad 501CM camera, most with the 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens, on Kodak Tri-X 400 film. I stabilized the camera on a tripod because of the long exposures. Northeast Photographic in Bath, Maine, developed the film. I scanned it with a Minolta Scan Multi medium format film scanner.   

Standby for the attic in the next article.