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Wheatland Elevator


Wheatland Elevator
Photo Information
Copyright: Brian Hartley (akula802) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 68 W: 3 N: 135] (1099)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-07-13
Categories: Nature, Architecture
Camera: Canon EOS 20D, Canon 18-55 EFS
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Viewer [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2006-07-30 3:56
Viewed: 586
Points: 8
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
If my memory serves me correctly, this old grain elevator sat along an abandoned railway somewhere in Divide County, North Dakota.

This place is like a monument, standing alone amidst a flat and seemingly empty landscape, like a pillar of hope into the great big prairie sky.

According to the NDSU Upper Plains Transportation Institute, there were around 1,800 elevators such as this one dotting the countryside of North Dakota in 1922. In the 1999-2000 harvest year, only 443 were licensed. The Institute predicts that 25% of those operating today will close their doors by the end of the decade.

BNSF has already abandoned more than 350 miles of tracks in North Dakota alone (the maximum allowed by law), and has appealed for more line closures as recently as 2000, according to the Department of Transportation. They are just one of the several railroad companies currently operating in the region.

This is the other face of progress...

I tinted this photograph slightly with a sepia filter and then desaturated for the effect I was looking for, and corrected for some slight lens distortion. After that, it was just a bit of tweaking the levels for the right amount of contrast.

I hope you enjoy :)



www.losthighwayphoto.com
atarisphoto, kludwig20, mephistoo has marked this note useful
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To AgnesL: Thanks!akula802 1 07-30 12:59
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Critiques [Translate]

great work brian. nice DOF.

thanks

mephistoo

Hi Brian, I have just been looking at your portfolio, and you have touched the soul of this transplanted prairie dweller with your pictures and descriptions of your home state of North Dakota. Grain elevators are a real favorite of mine as they once were the lighthouses of the great plains as they could be seen a long way off standing like sentinels marking the small towns in the distance not yet visible in that great emptiness. Record the ones that are left with your camera and your words. You will be doing us a great service. I like your POV here down low with the grasses in the f/g. The sepia toning fits your subject.

great PP on this one...it creates a very beautiful and sad mood...i really like the few pieces of prairie grasses that stick up higher than the rest...you definately did well with simplifying the background and making great use of the foreground in order to create an interesting photo...great work...peace***

beautiful composition here brian :)
this almost looks b/w, i love the tones
excellent work :)

points later, all out :)
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