“It was never as photogenic as it is now.”
“It was never as photogenic as it is now.”
That’s what one of my regular commentors said about one of my blog posts recently. I took to that phrase right away: it seems to sum up a great deal of my work, and my own ideas about what is or isn’t photogenic. There are few things that I like to photograph more than old places like this, once grand, maybe, but now forgotten and giving in to gravity.
I don’t know for sure what this place used to be, but my guess is that it was once a hotel. (If my research department wants to look into this a little bit, I will offer this: it is on the corner of West 13th Street and North Nelson Street.)
Fort Stockton, Texas
photographed 3.19.12
Posted on November 18, 2013, in abandoned buildings, Photography and tagged 365 photo project, abandoned buildings, architecture, black and white photography, fort stockton, fort stockton texas, melinda green harvey, monochrome, one day one image, photo a day, photography, self portrait, texas. Bookmark the permalink. 20 Comments.
One Day | One Image 
From the right angle in google street view it is possible to read the “HOTEL” part of the front sign, but not the name unfortunately. It was kind of a nice building. It had some secondary use though – the windows on the north side were boarded up, but some had openings left, the size of air conditioners. Would a hotel do that? And it is photogenic just as it is now.
LikeLike
Thank you, Research Department, for your prompt reply. I think boarding up windows, leaving only a spot for a air conditioner, is probably a code violation. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t done. I expect this place probably devolved from a relatively nice hotel to a Single Room Occupancy facility, which is urban-planner talk for “flophouse.”
LikeLike
Ah yes, the flophouse. There is one in downtown Victoria known still by its original late 1890’s name, The Ritz Hotel.
LikeLike
(Note to self: DO NOT STAY at the Ritz Hotel when visiting Victoria, no matter how, well, ritzy it sounds.)
LikeLike
It seems an added benefit of reading blog posts later in the day is that the research department had had a good opportunity to do, well, research. this photo had some interesting elements in it but my eye is drawn to the utility lines that follow the roof line on the left side. Another thing I find interesting is that this building is constructed of stone blocks. i think it was built to last well over 100 years (probably more). It’s really a shame that it has no further use.
LikeLike
Maybe I could get the Research Department to collaborate earlier in the process, so that the research could be included with the original post?
LikeLike
Is that even possible?
LikeLike
Not without a lot of coordination! A lot of times the Department goes off their own tangent, which is lot more interesting than what I would have come up with as an “assignment.”
Also, the RD would probably want a raise or even MORE unpaid days off or something if we tried to make a change at this point.
LikeLike
Ha! Its all timing. The research department only has time to drop by a couple of times a week right now. I might come by more often, by arrangement, if it meant I had 7 unpaid days a week off! A perpetual weekend in other words…
LikeLike
Let me talk to the folks in the human resources department and see what we might be able to work out. I can’t promise anything, though, but I CAN say that we here at One Day | One Image continue to be happy with your work.
LikeLike
What memories you evoke in writing ‘Fort Stockton’ ! a lifetime ago we used to drive from Tucson, AZ to Houston,TX. every year, and always stop at Fort Stockton at a diner that had the best roasted sandwiches in the world. I was still learning this country then,. Those sandwiches live in my memories forever. And I still remember those parts of Arizona and Southern Texas as the most desolate nature I have ever seen, I was coming from the green green pastures of Northern Italy.
LikeLike
Vera, I can’t even imagine how desolate that country must have looked to you after the green Italian countryside. And, not only is this area most certainly NOT the kind of green you were used to, but the scale was a lot different, too, wasn’t it? I can imagine that it was overwhelming. Not in a good way, either! But at least you got delicious sandwiches!
LikeLike
Well.. I am very adaptable … it all looked strange and empty…To tell you the truth the south of Arizona looked to me – then – as if it had been bombed.
It was not ‘overwhelming’ – just different and somewhat annoying.. I had already seen the Saudi desert, also very empty, but that had a beauty that these places lacked… anyway I did adjust. Living is an adventure and an experiment.
LikeLike
It would be plenty boring if we didn’t have adventures and experiments, wouldn’t it?
LikeLike
But it might be more photogenic tomorrow?
LikeLike
Exactly. It WILL be more photogenic tomorrow, to my photographer’s eye, anyway.
(Welcome back! How was your break?)
LikeLike
True.
Feeling very relaxed. It’s amazing how much free time is created by stopping blogging. 🙂
LikeLike
I know what you mean. My job is starting to get in the way of my blogs. But the job comes with a paycheck, and the blogs…well, you know.
LikeLike
Google street view has reached Texas? That van with the funny cameras on the roof has travelled a long, long way. It’s been down my street too. That’s a lot of useful looking firewood lying on the sidewalk – I could so with some of that over here – it’s freezing here today.
LikeLike
Yes, that van’s been down my street as well.
Too bad you don’t have ready access to that wood – it’s nice and dried out, so would burn well.
LikeLike