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Questions to guide your feedback
Anyone else come from an agricultural community? Is it as you remember the days?
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Image Description
The old Greely elevator at Windham, Montana. A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In most cases, the term “grain elevator” also describes the entire elevator complex, including receiving and testing offices, weighbridges, and storage facilities.
Not from an agricultural community, but eastern Washington is full of these and there are still a few left on the west side of the mountains. I think you’ve done a great job of catching the feel of it. It almost has that dust bowl aura.
Re Specific Feedback: Most definitely. It reminds me of a tiny town just across the Columbia River called George, WA. The cafe has black and white images of combines being pulled by huge teams of horses.
Hey Bob, nice to see you back here! This is a very excellent image. I spend time each year (outside of Covid) in the Palouse of Eastern Washington. I’m heading back there this spring. I see several of these structures there and love photographing them. Thanks for sharing this one.
Thank you @Dennis_Plank and @David_Bostock. I’m afraid the younger generations have no clue about the world beyond Tik Tok. I have only lived here in Seattle for 50 years but I have spent a substantial amount of time exploring Eastern Washington and farther East. It is fascinating that all the West Coast states are divided by mountain ranges and the two sides culturally are very disparate.
Nice image, especially the B/W treatment. I’m still in an agricultural community, but times have and are changing; sometimes too rapidly. A couple very noticeable changes are the wind and solar “farms” which are springing up everywhere. A very large solar farm is being constructed just east of Moxee in ranch and farm land. (I wonder if they are “raised” or constructed). Eastern Washington, however, is still a great area to experience agriculture and a bit of its past, but going fast. Thank for posting this.
Very nice. I am not from an agricultural community and from a different continent, so not familiar with these old structures, except from images. But I like the image a lot.
It is the impression of times gone by, I get the feeling that people have moved and left their property behind to fall apart. Sad, but very common in rural environments. Thanks for sharing.
Maybe I’d process this image as taken with a dark yellow or red filter, with dark sky and more more contrast in the sky.
Thank you @Han_Schutten for your kind remarks. I chose not to make all the sky dark because the bush/trees on the right side of the elevator would be indistinct.
Thank you @ Jim_Gavin for sharing your observations. I continue to spend extensive time exploring the prairies in Eastern Washington. I am always rewarded,
because of the calmness, whether I make a photo or not.
I love these old grain elevators but they are certainly disappearing fast these days. I’m glad you converted this to black and white - color would have distracted from the shapes and textures, as well as the play of light and shadow. Excellent!
(I had to look up Windham because I haven’t been through that area since I was a little girl. Definitely need to schedule a week-long teardropping trip through Montana with my husband! So many towns I remember the names of, but not the details about anymore)
Thank you @ Denise Dethlefsen for your kind remarks. I have spent a bit of time in the prairies from Washington to the Dakotas and north through the provinces as well as south as far as Texas. I do not go out seeking these relics, but when I encounter one I explore its photogenic potential then determine what aspect and time of day would give me the best opportunities.
I agree that color is a distraction for these subjects. I always shoot in color with the intent of converting to B&W. I collect the images into an ongoing project. I currently have over 100 such photos and planning to publish a book of these “Derelict Structures.”
