2510_1482 Going Wild
As promised, this is the start of a mostly-abstract look at the old Pontiac - circa 1939 - that has been rusting away in a prairie field since the early 1960s. It's left front fender is a wonder to behold. Rust flowers, strange hieroglyphs, a black hole, a deep dive into textures, lines, shapes, and colours... the possible interpretations are endless. You may also think: rubbish (literally or figuratively, lol), a waste of time, not interested. I won't be offended. Decay is not to everyone's taste; likewise pure abstraction.
My own take on this subject is that the imaginative potential is unlimited, and that exercising our imagination makes us better photographers. I first noticed this old wreck while driving a gravel grid road in 2000 or 2001. I didn't think it looked all that interesting: too many bullet holes, too deteriorated, too much rust. Almost a decade later, however, in 2009, I slipped under the fence and took a look at close range, and it knocked my sox off! Amazing deterioration due to our blazing hot summers, deadly cold winters, and especially from the wind and blown grit and sand. Scouring, polishing, cracking, splitting, turning surfaces that once were shiny and smooth into pure fantasy.
So. I keep returning. I've used every one of my lenses on it at one time or another, and in 17 years I've seen a lot of change - the "scenes" captured in my early shots no longer exist. They have rusted or faded away. Pulling these little excerpts from the larger subject is really an exercise in seeing not only what a thing is, but what else it could be. This, for me, is enormously entertaining. I promise that I will close out this series with a shot of the entire vehicle, showing it location, where it has rested for for more than six decades, just to provide context (but also because it's a recent shot that I really like).
Photographed at Rosefield, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2025 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
2510_1482 Going Wild
As promised, this is the start of a mostly-abstract look at the old Pontiac - circa 1939 - that has been rusting away in a prairie field since the early 1960s. It's left front fender is a wonder to behold. Rust flowers, strange hieroglyphs, a black hole, a deep dive into textures, lines, shapes, and colours... the possible interpretations are endless. You may also think: rubbish (literally or figuratively, lol), a waste of time, not interested. I won't be offended. Decay is not to everyone's taste; likewise pure abstraction.
My own take on this subject is that the imaginative potential is unlimited, and that exercising our imagination makes us better photographers. I first noticed this old wreck while driving a gravel grid road in 2000 or 2001. I didn't think it looked all that interesting: too many bullet holes, too deteriorated, too much rust. Almost a decade later, however, in 2009, I slipped under the fence and took a look at close range, and it knocked my sox off! Amazing deterioration due to our blazing hot summers, deadly cold winters, and especially from the wind and blown grit and sand. Scouring, polishing, cracking, splitting, turning surfaces that once were shiny and smooth into pure fantasy.
So. I keep returning. I've used every one of my lenses on it at one time or another, and in 17 years I've seen a lot of change - the "scenes" captured in my early shots no longer exist. They have rusted or faded away. Pulling these little excerpts from the larger subject is really an exercise in seeing not only what a thing is, but what else it could be. This, for me, is enormously entertaining. I promise that I will close out this series with a shot of the entire vehicle, showing it location, where it has rested for for more than six decades, just to provide context (but also because it's a recent shot that I really like).
Photographed at Rosefield, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2025 James R. Page - all rights reserved.