View allAll Photos Tagged decayed
I found some old and decaying buildings down a back road near Damon's apartment. I liked the interesting layered wall textures.
Lightcatch Forum Monthly Assignment: 'Decay'
Can only post 2 out of this 3. Made my choice.
Taken with: Nikon D90
Mamiya Sekor 50mm 1:2 SX m42 using adapter
Vivitar 2x Teleconverter 50mm MF
PS CS5
Still fighting the good fight, but losing ground quickly.
Five shots were used for this hand-held panorama. Looks better in bigger size.
As of today's posting, this photograph is sixteen months in the past. At that time, construction of "a visionary masterplan project set to transform Saint John's waterfront into a thriving epicenter of urban living" was just getting underway. I haven't been back to that location since, but this is a MAJOR development costing . . . what? A hundred million taxpayer dollars? But whatever-----it's only money!
In 'the old days' things used to happen more, shall we say, organically. But now, some 'developer' decides what the common people shall, or shall not have. I have mixed feelings about this sort of thing, to be honest. The Saint John of my childhood is gone, history, with so many key elements of the old city having disappeared. I'm sorry, but I just can't relate to these glitzy new developments that are anything but 'organic'.
I'm not opposed to progress, as such, but seventy-plus years of experience has taught me that, in too many instances, "progress" is not all it's made out to be. Building the new generally entails destroying the old.
That's especially true when you look behind the facade of glamour. The South End of Saint John is the oldest part of the city and, at least in terms of its housing stock, it's been in decline for a very long time (this accounts for the 'urban renewal' frenzy of the early 1960s, although those efforts were not directed at the South End). There are a lot of old houses in various stages of decay. And the waterfront? It used to be a dingy workplace, what with the Pugsley sheds and the Coast Guard buildings, along with the sugar refinery and other smaller industrial enterprises. That has all been swept away; everything now is geared toward cruise ship tourism and the pleasure of those with the means to afford brand-new residential buildings with a harbour view (I am not, rest assured, among their number-----it wouldn't surprise me if rents are four or five times what my wife and I are paying for our modest, though perfectly adequate and decent, apartment in Charlottetown).
So yeah, color me a bit skeptical. New and bright is probably better than old and dingy. That's logical, and I get it. Still, feelings don't necessarily have any connection with logic . . .