*Look Below for Photo Descriptions*
My main photo I use for my website is of the Charles E. Nelson Homestead House built in the late 1800s. It became abandoned for its last eighty years on land just outside Dufur in northern central Oregon, just east of the Cascade Range.
I took this shot in 2012 with my wife Beth when we went on a “needle in a haystack” drive to try to find it. We were about ready to give up when there it appeared around a corner on a road that seemed to be heading to nowhere.
The Nelson House was a “must capture” spot for landscape photographers in Oregon so there are plenty of shots of this out there, but I felt this particular composition and treatment epitomized the desolate feeling of this Queen Anne style home and made it different than others I’ve seen.
But what really makes this special to me now, is this past summer…
https://www.opb.org/news/article/nelson-house-oregon-tour-fire/
…the field and house burned in one of the many fires that are hitting the western United States these past few years. This fact really has hit home for me as a photographer, as even if I strive to do artistic fine art work, I am still discovering that some of my images have captured locally iconic symbols of our past. One never knows when taking the shot, it may soon disappear forever, but time has a way of making that happen either through humankind decisions, or as in this case, the forces of nature.
Here are a few others I’ve discovered…
#1 The Nelson House with my distinct take on one of the most often filmed houses in Oregon.
#2 – This is a second shot of the Nelson House with a now gone ancient wagon and tree. This gives you a look at what was around it.
#3 – The enormity of this ancient tree does not really transition into a photo. This beautiful tree greeted my drive along a not so trafficked road just north of the tiny, slow down community of Peoria, Oregon just southeast of Corvallis. This tree stood about 180 feet high and was easily 80 to 100 years old. One day while following my wife in a second car, I went by the field and something seemed weird…the field where the tree always stood was just a field. It was just gone. After all of these years the farmer must have just decided he was tired of circumventing around the tree with his equipment and just removed it. I was heartbroken as if I had lost an old friend.
#4 – Along the same road near the town of Harrisburg, I always loved this barn mostly because of the view at one point where the trees in the background engulfed it. I love old wooden barns with a sense of history. Not too long ago, I found myself with that view, but just like the tree, no barn…it was just gone. Now in its place is a very nice looking modern metal barn that I’m sure is much more practical and efficient, yet never the same.
#5 – This one has not been confirmed by me yet, but I have been told that this windmill no longer exists. I took this photo in 2010 on a wonderful little trip around Central Oregon. This windmill sat in a field in Oregon on a day where you could swivel 180 degrees and see all of the Cascade Peaks from the Three Sisters to the south, all the way to Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier in Washington State to the north. Those are the two in this photo. But to me, it is the windmill standing alone with the glorious backdrop that makes the photo. I almost would rather never confirm the rumor. I kind of like imagining it still there standing like a sentinel throughout the years.
I think the passing of these personal icons makes me reflect at the age of 61, also on how many people we lose in a lifetime and how precious photos are of those people, especially those where their personality and the essence of who they are are captured for us to remember.
Landscape hunting is often a reminder of how history is all around us, the lives and objects that affect not only us now, but all those who have come before us. Photos capture a moment in time, preserving forever the importance of that feeling.
