It doesn't feel like I have been making photos very long. But the calendar and my bulging hard drives are starting to say otherwise.
I bought my first real camera in June 2005. Since then I have made a lot of photos. Most of the photos are merely shots of things I find interesting and catch eye. Old, withering things (i.e. buildings, cars, trees, etc.) have always been a favorite subject of mine. I'm not sure why. Maybe it is because it is easy to see that they will not be around much longer. A melancholy thought to be sure, but more often than not many of them prove me right. And each time I learn that one of my favorite local landmarks or secret haunts is gone I am a saddened a little because I know that history and the stories contained within the walls of each one is gone forever.
Recently I thought I should go back and look at my photos to see which ones contain items that are gone, never to be seen again. This is a small collection of those photos; a gallery of 20+ photos of things that are gone...as Squints from the movie Sandlot would say, "For-ev-er."
As I continue to make new photos of Montana, I am sure I will keep making photos of old, aging items. Why? Because maybe I may be the last person to photograph those things. And maybe those photographs will be one of the last remaining traces of those landmarks.
And maybe that is my legacy.
