Tuesday, April 23, 2019: Lyman Street File (Part Two)
(Click on images to enlarge.)
Pixetera
Photography and art making as play.
Category: factories
November 21, 2018
Wednesday, November 21, 2018: The Paper City File
Holyoke, Massachusetts, which I visited briefly this week for the first time, was once known as The Paper City. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it produced approximately 80% of the paper used in this country and and was home to the largest paper, silk, and alpaca mills in the world. It is also the place where volleyball was invented and first played in 1895. (It’s early history makes for a really fun read.)
The images below were taken in the vicinity of the Holyoke Heritage State Park, which stands on the site of the Skinner Silk Mill that burned to the ground in 1980. The First Level Canal bordering one side of it was home to many other mills whose now vacant or underutilized structures can be seen in these photos.
I’d be very surprised if the city, now fallen on hard times, doesn’t make a huge comeback within the next decade.
(Btw, if you expect to find Mt. Holyoke College in Holyoke, you’ll be sadly disappointed. It’s located one town to the northeast in South Hadley, just across the Connecticut River.)
Please click on images to enlarge.
October 15, 2017
Sunday, October 15, 2017: West Point Foundry Preserve
(Click on images to enlarge.)
Location link:
The West Point Foundry Preserve, in the village of Cold Spring, NY, is sited amidst the ruins of a long-defunct iron works that supplied major artillery for the United States government in the nineteenth century. Today, an almost magical woodlands has reclaimed the land, protected from development as an “outdoor museum” by Scenic Hudson. On this, my first visit, I found the transformation of a once bustling, belching, noisy, and polluting armaments manufacturing complex into a scene of pristine natural beauty good medicine for the soul.
For more information about the preserve, please visit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Point_Foundry
September 4, 2017
Monday, September 4, 2017: Labor Day
Back in the days of film, before workers were called “associates,” before unions fell into disrepute, before income inequality became obscene, and before my career as a freelance photographer came to an end, a number of large corporations sent me out on editorial assignments to document their facilities, employees, and manufacturing processes. In celebration of workers worldwide, here are some portraits of the men and women I encountered on those jobs, plus several done for other clients, that I happen to have as digital files on my computer. (Click on images to enlarge.)
March 2, 2017
Wednesday, March 1, 2017: Tioronda Hat Factory
(Click on images to enlarge.)
February 21, 2017
Tuesday, February 21, 2017: A Walk along Fishkill Creek (Part Two)
(Click on images to enlarge.)
May 2, 2016
Monday, May 2, 2016: Denning’s Point Brick Works
(Click on images to enlarge.)
Pixetera 