One cold winter day in December 2001 when studio work was
all finished, I grabbed my favorite Minolta XE-7, loaded up my Bronco with
Samson (our studio dog) and drove off to a remote park for a walk.
Here among the bare wet trees was a turn-of-the-century
streetlight. I would have completely
missed it, if it weren’t for Samson walking over to take a look.
We were well off the beaten path and it was obvious that
this lamp hadn’t been used in decades.
Further investigation revealed no purpose for it being there.
Upon returning to the main area of the park, I located an
old map from the information center. The
lamp is apparently a lone survivor in what used to be a series lighting
a paved path for moonlit walks through the park to a lodge and cabins that were
torn down in the late twenties. Long out
of use with no other recognizable markers of its existence.
I liked the fact that this old artifact of a time long
forgotten stands alone in silence and well disguised among the trees, incognito.
Shot on Tri-X 100 using a Minolta XE-7 and a Rokkor 1.8 35mm
lens. Film was scanned full frame using a
Minolta DiMage 5400 Elite film scanner without retouch or adjustment.