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Rural Decay

  • Jul. 4th, 2009 at 6:53 PM
industrial
If you drive along Interstate 80 through Nebraska, you'll see a lot of wheat fields, a lot of corn fields, and very little else.

If you keep at it, and drive until you feel the endless flat landscape pressing against your sanity like Nyarlathotep descending on a tasty morsel of virgin consciousness, you'll reach exit 382.

There's nothing there, really. A golf cart store, a gas station, a sign advertising an inn that's been closed for years...that's about it. There is also, just to the north of the interstate and a little more than a quarter of a mile from the exit, the ruins of a tiny wooden church, collapsing into decay.

The church itself is here:



When we drove past the church, I had no choice but to stop and photograph it. The ruins are beautiful beyond all comprehension. It's a pretty hard slog from the exit, through thick brush, and a barbed-wire fence along the interstate prevented me from getting behind it. Plus, I got ticks while getting these pictures. Ticks! *shudders*

As I was taking these, I was wishing desperately for a better digital camera. Some of these pictures would make awesome posters, but sadly, my first-generation DSLR simply doesn't offer the resolution for poster-sized printing.











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( 27 comments — Leave a comment )
[info]sidhne wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:01 am (UTC)
followed from another site (FL).

wonderful pictures! i would like to see one or two of these in black and white. they're just too cheerful in color.
[info]tacit wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 03:03 am (UTC)
They do look a lot more stark in B&W:



[info]sidhne wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 03:15 am (UTC)

that's what i'm talking about! it emphasizes their decrepitude!
[info]virginia_fell wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:56 am (UTC)
You really found something neat.
[info]tacit wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 03:07 am (UTC)
Yeah! Worth getting ticks to get these images. :)
[info]icedrake wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 04:07 am (UTC)
Did you? Get ticks, that is?
[info]tacit wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 04:44 am (UTC)
I did! Two of 'em. Freaked me out, too...ugly little blood-sucking arachnids.
[info]icedrake wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 04:47 am (UTC)
Just in case you don't know already, be sure to check for bulls-eye patterns at the bite sites.
[info]zaiah wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 08:20 am (UTC)
Checked! Also, weren't deer ticks. *hums Brad Paisley's song*
[info]spiralflames wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 03:40 am (UTC)
wonderful!!
[info]boi_xen wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 04:08 am (UTC)
I like pictures of old barns that are falling down. There's something postmodern about them.
[info]joreth wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 10:45 pm (UTC)
       :-)

Great photos, [info]tacit! You can't do poster-size? My little old powershot can print up to 8x10. I figured yours could do better than that.
[info]tacit wrote:
Jul. 6th, 2009 12:04 am (UTC)
At 24x36 (the size of the Human Sex Map poster), they'd be only 80 pixels per inch, so no. :( I've got my eye on a much better digital SLR, but finances aren't stable yet.
[info]sheyeblaze wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 04:27 am (UTC)
Oh good lord. This brought back memories of trips to South Dakota and Nebraska from my childhood. The sheer poverty and barenness. I've not had anything triggers those memories with such vividness in a long time.
[info]phyrra wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 05:47 am (UTC)
Some really cool pictures!
[info]tacit wrote:
Jul. 6th, 2009 12:04 am (UTC)
Thanks!
[info]susanlawton wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:25 pm (UTC)
Awesome pics! I really like the B&W ones. Nicely composed.

Also, ticks suck... pun definitely intended. ;-)
[info]mlordslittleone wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:46 pm (UTC)
I see the decay in the black and white ones. I love the color ones though - I see life in them.
[info]lovewithoutfear wrote:
Jul. 6th, 2009 12:55 am (UTC)
Beautiful. But, none of inside?
[info]tacit wrote:
Jul. 6th, 2009 01:16 am (UTC)
Nope, couldn't get inside. There was a fence all along the roadway. :(
[info]jonnymoon wrote:
Jul. 6th, 2009 10:02 pm (UTC)
What a sad commentary on the current condition of religion in our society.

[info]tacit wrote:
Jul. 7th, 2009 04:17 am (UTC)
You'd rather religion be what...even more popular?
[info]quaryn_dk wrote:
Jul. 9th, 2009 03:24 pm (UTC)
I'd say it's a sadder comment on the depopulation of rural areas in the Midwest.
[info]james_the_evil1 wrote:
Jul. 8th, 2009 03:43 pm (UTC)
VERY cool.
[info]margareta87 wrote:
Jul. 9th, 2009 07:46 pm (UTC)
Hi there. I'm a big fan of your What, Like Two Girlfriends site, and I love love love your "Tracking the Unicorn" flow chart. A friend of mine directed me to your LJ--mind if I add you? Thanks!--M
[info]tacit wrote:
Jul. 10th, 2009 12:34 am (UTC)
Howdy, and welcome aboard!
[info]sbernard16 wrote:
Jul. 16th, 2009 09:35 pm (UTC)
Oh I love finding old things like this to photograph. There is a lovely old cabin in a field near Yosemite that I too some photos of a while back. I think one actually had a bear in the field near by as well. I'll have to find them.
( 27 comments — Leave a comment )