after this, its gone

removed account4 · Jan 30, 2017

i have spent a lot of film photographing things as they are being torn down
before they are torn down, or things that look like they will be gone in a matter of days
and been surprised that they have lasted years, even decades in the same shape.
some places i say " i can't stop now it will be there tomorrow i will just go back" and when
i returned less than 24 hours later, there was only a pile of rubble left.

i showed this photograph to people who i know knew the building...
they drove by it not daily but maybe weekly. they saw it come down and they know
that has replaced it. some say the old stuff being torn down and disposable buildings going
up in their place isn't a bad thing, they were old and decrepit falling down grimy old stuff
some look at this old stuff because it is a link to the past, something they lived through and was
part of their lives.
anyways, i showed the photograph to these 3 people and they looked at me and said they recognized it
but had no clue were it was or what it was, i think they were just telling me they knew the building because
it is old and decrepit falling down grimy old stuff like a lot of "stuff" ...
i know people that work across the street and had no idea where it was either ...
old and decrepit falling down grimy old buildings have character, and after they are gone there's nothing left.

blockend · Jan 30, 2017

Things are continually changing, and it's a job to keep on top of them photographically. Sometimes the most innocuous things seem to be the most permanent, then one day you walk past and it's gone. I drove past an old taxi firm with badly hand painted sign writing for years. The small block it was on was surrounded by new developments. Last time I went past the company had replaced its wall art with a bland contemporary plastic signage. In the bigger picture, completely irrelevant, but a change worth noting. Fortunately I grabbed a shot of the old sign a few years ago.

Most of the content of my first few folders of negatives, people and places, are no more.

chriscrawfordphoto · Jan 30, 2017

I've photographed a lot of buildings that were later demolished. I show them to people and they ask "where was that?" When I tell them, they're often surprised. It was something they drove past on the way to work for years and never noticed. Most people, at least were I live, are not observant. We, photographers like you and I, we make sure these places are seen remembered, even if its only after they're gone.

bsdunek · Jan 30, 2017

To many people, what's around them becomes like wallpaper. They cease to notice anything. I love old buildings, and even, some not so old buildings. Things today have, for the most part, no style, or , bad style. It seems, if an old building can be restored, why not. It should be cheaper than building a new one. Some, of course, can't. The school building that my Dad, I, and my daughters went to, had to be torn down because it's basic structure could no longer meet fire standards. Some beautiful buildings in Detroit, where my Mother grew up are now gone. This is because of bad politics which killed the city. The J. L. Hudson building, if anybody knows it, is an example.
Glad you at least capture them in photos; I do also.

MattKing · Jan 30, 2017

It helps when people actually see things like this before they are torn down.

And one of the things that are common to many of the photographers I know and respect is that they have an unusual propensity to actually pay attention to what they see.

Theo Sulphate · Jan 31, 2017

This is a major theme and obsession of mine and has been for many decades.

About a year and a half ago I visited Blue Moon Camera in Portland, Oregon. I parked on a nearby street and saw this art-deco building, which I photographed with my phone:

My plan was to photograph it properly one week later when I returned. However, one week later it (and surrounding buildings) had been demolished. I had no idea that was going to happen.

blockend · Jan 31, 2017

A case in point is East London. The 2012 Olympics saw commercial and industrial areas along the Lea Valley that had stood for a century or two (sometimes more) torn down to make way for a two week sporting event. The area is being redeveloped as a technology and residential quarter completely unrecognisable from what was there a few years ago. Real year zero stuff.

Harry Stevens · Jan 31, 2017

I have took pictures of buillding in the late 70s that where demolished and then the buildings that replaced them I photographed last year when they also where demolished.....I am getting old.

I like taking pictures of demolition heres two from 1995.Zenith EM Helios 58mm

Sirius Glass · Jan 31, 2017

When I first moved to Los Angeles historic and art deco buildings were getting knocked down at a fast rate. Finally people realized what was being lost and old buildings got historic protection. It is important to preserve our history through photographs.

Theo Sulphate · Jan 31, 2017

Sirius Glass said:
When I first moved to Los Angeles historic and art deco buildings were getting knocked down at a fast rate. ...

You got that right! I remember the Richfield building: black onyx and gold art-deco architecture.

Just look at what got destroyed, one of the most beautiful buildings ever:

http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2009/05/richfield-building.html?m=1

Just look at photos of the interior.

Also, you can tell from the photos that a view camera was used with lots of front rise movement.

Nige · Jan 31, 2017

I've been almost daily driving past for years an old shack/building in a residential street (it's completely out of character with the surrounding houses) with what looked like 20 layers of flaking paint and usually a mid 70's motorbike parked in front. Had a real character about it! Thought to myself, I'll take a photo of that someday... last week drive past and there's a garage sale out front... next day, it had been rendered a mid grey... that photo is gone forever (or at least 50 years!)

Ko.Fe. · Jan 31, 2017

Sounds like Toronto to me. They cutting trees and destroying old buildings to dump faceless mega condos. Same happened with Moscow, but they builded infrastructure to support. Toronto does not. No new roads, no new subway stations. Shame to see what this once innovative city has become.

Drew B. · Jan 31, 2017

I've documented buildings that were coming down for years. I'd also, if there was time and the building was of a historic nature, measure them and create cad drawings. This is a 4x5 shot of the third floor of a once beaUtiful building in the town of Mansfield, Ma.

LAG · Feb 1, 2017

jnanian said:
... i showed the photograph to these 3 people and they looked at me and said they recognized it but had no clue were it was or what it was, i think they were just telling me they knew the building because it is old and decrepit falling down grimy old stuff like a lot of "stuff" ... i know people that work across the street and had no idea where it was either ... old and decrepit falling down grimy old buildings have character, and after they are gone there's nothing left.

Yes John, there is something left, your photographs. That's part of the magic. Nice thoughts!

MattKing said:
... one of the things that are common to many of the photographers I know and respect is that they have an unusual propensity to actually pay attention to what they see.

Very true! (however it also happens that we stop giving importance to details that surround us and we should pay attention to)

Bailly Mansion (2005) La Coruna . Spain . Tmax 100 [135] | Scanned print

This Mansion was built in 1920's, abandoned in 1970's - in 1969 suffered a great fire -. Here it is the last photograph I took was in 2005 (when the building suffered a second but small fire committed by a tramp who lived there for some time) because I thoght, "this time is the time, they're going to torn it down!" ... but today 2017 is still there, standing as a ruin (more or less as you can see it here) --- um, I got to come back to see and take another one soon! -- Whenever I pass by - by car - I can not help looking at it, although I can not always stop myself to take a picture.

I have a friend who walks past this house four times a day (home | work | work | home) and barely pays attention to it, the same thing happens to all the people who lives near, they hardly pay attention because the building (so great as gray, and therefore small) is an unimportant part of their everyday landscape.

Click here If you are interested in knowing more about this building it's an d-g-t-l article from 2011

Best

p.s. If it is possible for me, in a few days I'll post here its current state

mdarnton · Feb 1, 2017

I wonder how many people know the story (told in the "Cover" section) about this Crosby/Stills/Nash record album cover: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosby,_Stills_&_Nash_(album)#Cover

Scott Gibson · Feb 1, 2017

Could not agree more, this is a subject that has been near and dear to me for a long time! My hometown was hit particularly hard by the decline of the US auto industry in the 70's-80's, and subsequent "scorched-earth" urban renewal policies have all but erased the city's core commercial districts. Today probably 80% of our historic downtown exists only in photographs. Over the last 10 years I have made it a point to shoot any old buildings that look to be not long for this world, from the historic and ornate to the utilitarian and mundane. And although I have been accused of creating "ruin porn", my intention is quite the opposite - to document what remains before it too disappears into history.

Below is one of my favorite shots I've taken in the last couple years - this entire block was leveled shortly after the photo was taken.

removed account4 · Feb 1, 2017

IDK 20+ years ago when i lived in boston
i made photographs of parts of the city that were endangered with demolition / "urban renewal"
the liberty tree block was pretty much falling down like a lot of the buildings in the combat zone ..
these days it is like disney land by comparison.

mgb74 · Feb 1, 2017

Back in the late 70s and early 80s, they tore down many beautiful buildings in downtown Minneapolis. But they were uneconomical from a commercial standpoint (energy, usable floor space). So they were replaced with buildings that made more economic sense, but were forgettable even as they were being built.

But here's the dilemma. Either we as a society value and subsidize these iconic buildings (presumably through lower property taxes) or we accept the fact that they will disappear.

That's being done now in Minneapolis for building in it's "historic districts" but wasn't back then.

Helios 1984 · Feb 3, 2017

Take pictures of these old buildings while they still stand, guys, you never know how much longer they'll be there. In my town there was a beautiful house dating from 1775, it was a coffee shop for the past 15 years or so (best cuppa in town). About 2 years ago, a pyromaniac decided to throw an incendiary device on the house, just like that it was gone. I stopped there on multiple occasions for a coffee but I never took a single picture of the place, I regret it very much.

jvo · Feb 3, 2017

had we only had more respect for architecture who knows we could have had cities like europe!!! ah, capitalism, ain't it great?

blockend · Feb 3, 2017

jvo said:
had we only had more respect for architecture who knows we could have had cities like europe!!! ah, capitalism, ain't it great?

From a UK perspective, we flattened a lot of important buildings in the 1960s. The urge to allow cars free passage meant towns and cities lost buildings going back to medieval times. In some cases protestors would apply for a protection order, so the wrecking ball would move in over night and there'd be nothing left by dawn. Within fifteen years cars would be banned from town centres, and it was all for nothing.

cliveh · Feb 3, 2017

Eugene Atget.

removed account4 · Feb 3, 2017

there is sometimes elitism when it comes to architecture.
who sets the standards for the things that stay and don't stay?
in response to the wholesale demolition of the 60's and before
here in the states there is the national register and whenever there
is a project that gets any state or federal $, designing or planning they have
to take into account what is there above and below the ground. if a building is 50 years old
or has been involved with something "historic" ( even tangentially ) it is eligible for protection
by inclusion into the "national register" so it protects it from the government, not the owner.
there are "demolition delays" where people rush and try to repurpose the building &c but if
owners want to take it down, they can do whatever they want ... the rules might be a little different
for a "district" ... that said
someone like me might put a lighted billboard display on the national register
so the owner is protected from a highway project or getting it repaired &c, because it is 50+ years old, and a local landmark
and maybe the last sign made by xyz neon bender, there are others who believe because it isn't a 1st period home,
something built in 1690 that was saved from king philip's war, or something from the civil war it has no historic value.
like everything else ( including photography and ways of making a photograph / angelo v dipigal ) different people have different agendas they
promote " old historic and worthy " vs " lesser old, still worthy and local value " ...

Theo Sulphate · Feb 3, 2017

mdarnton said:
I wonder how many people know the story (told in the "Cover" section) about this Crosby/Stills/Nash record album cover: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosby,_Stills_&_Nash_(album)#Cover

Didn't know that - thanks!

Andrew O'Neill · Feb 3, 2017

This happened to me quite regularly while living Japan. I'd go back a week later, and in some cases the next day, only to find it demolished. The most amazing place I stumbled upon was exploring a bamboo forest. In the middle of it was an abandoned neighbourhood of old houses. I came back a week later. Gone. Entire forest and houses, gone. Now a bunch of new homes sit there (old now because that was over 20 years ago!).

after this, its gone

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