Blog Archives
slide
This place was lovely in its desolation.
I mean, I’m sure it’s lovely in the summer with the lights on and music and people and ice cream and sunburns or whatever.
But to me, it is hard to improve on a foggy day with no one else around and a convenient opening in a fence that allows a photographer to step inside and enjoy the moment.
Old Orchard Beach, Maine
photographed 3.16.2026
sears is almost gone
At the very end of 2018, the Sears store in Lubbock was closing. I decided to take a series of photographs of its last days, which I thought would be an interesting social experiment. At first I was worried that the store personnel might object to my being there. I think at the beginning of the few weeks I shot there, maybe a couple of employees realized what I was doing, but as the giant Number of Days Left banner counted it down, they cared less and less. Random photographers are not that big a problem, I guess, when your very job is about to evaporate.
The other day, while I was wandering around Maine – the way you do – I pulled into a parking lot to check the map and find out where I actually was compared to where I was more or less heading. At I saw the remains of a Sears store. And because I am easily entertained, I spent some time taking photos before I checked the map and headed on my wandery way.
Brunswick, Maine
photographed 3.18.2026
faded (old) glory
Just because buildings are vacant/abandoned doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see.
This little vignette’s got metal siding where a big plate glass window used to be with a smaller window stuck in. And – and! – a very tattered and faded American flag.
The other side of the shot has a sign whose awkward wording led me to read it as “home drop off please no furniture” which naturally made me wonder why they wanted people to just drop off vacant homes. Ah, language: so amusing. Ha, my thought process: probably not so amusing.
Tahoka, Texas
photographed 3.5.2026
this is how my tale begins
This is not the first time I’ve not broken any photographic ground by making a short depth-of-field photo of this same white picket fence.
And you know what? I bet the next time I visit, I’ll not-break that same ground. I can’t help myself.
National Ranching Heritage Center
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 3.8.2026
by a white-baked wall
This is the first historic building visitors to the National Ranching Heritage Center see; there are tons of pictures of the front of it.
So – you know how I am – I headed down the path and behind a berm to try to catch a different angle on a place that’s familiar to me. The windmill that’s nearly obscured by the trees was a bonus.
National Ranching Heritage Center
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 3.8.2026
One Day | One Image 