I made this photograph of my son on a cold afternoon a couple of weeks ago while I was testing a lens that I had sent off for repair because it wasn’t focusing accurately. He was pretty tired of being my test guinea pig by the time I made this image at the end of the roll.
I am currently working on my masters degree, so I spend a few days a week on the campus of Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne. Last Wednesday, I noticed hearts drawn with sidewalk chalk all over the walkways on the campus. All of the walkways, or so it seemed! I stopped to photograph this line of hearts because it had the only broken heart I saw. The hearts turned out to be a visual lead to written anti-abortion messages chalked on the walks and plazas at various places around the campus.
This is the famous sign atop one of the old General Electric factory buildings on the huge GE complex between Broadway and Fairfield Avenue in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. A lot of people in my grandma Rosa Eastes’ family worked there, including her father, at least two of her brothers, and the wife of one of her brothers. Thousands of Fort Wayne residents worked at this complex and another GE facility on Taylor Street in the early 20th century. The Taylor Street factory is now operated by another company, and a lot of the jobs at the Broadway complex have been shipped to Mexico. One of the buildings here was demolished a few years ago, though the rest still operate.
The sign is a famous landmark in Fort Wayne. I had to photograph it while it is still here. Before posting this photograph, I found out that GE has a similar, but larger, sign atop one of their factories in Schenectady, New York, the hometown of General Electric.
This little house is located on Mexico Road, the main street of the little town of Mexico, Indiana. It looked a little out of place among the much larger storefront buildings that line the road. This photograph was made during my first visit to the town, on January 11.
The GE starburst sign at Elwood’s Appliances in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne is a famous landmark. At night, little lightbulbs on the starburst light up and move outward while the GE logo in the center flashes on and off. I think that this sign has been there since the 1950’s, but I am not sure. I promised the owner of the store a print, so I’ll ask him when I give it to him.
Elwoods is one of a tiny handful of locally owned appliance stores left in Fort Wayne. Waynedale actually has another locally owned appliance store, Sandpoint TV Service, down the street from Elwoods on Lower Huntington Road.
On January 11, I was driving north on US 31 in Miami County, Indiana. I had taken my son to see his mother in Logansport and we were driving back to Fort Wayne on US 24 when I decided to take US 31 north toward Rochester. There was a place there I wanted to photograph on the way home.
We never made it there because I saw this huge arrow-shaped sign along US 31 pointing down a country road: MEXICO 1/2 MILE. I spent some time there photographing until it got too cold for us; the temperature was dropping and it was beginning to snow. I’ve been back one more time, after another visit to Logansport.
Miami County is interesting because there are several towns with Latin American or Hispanic names: Chili, Mexico, Peru, and even a Santa Fe. I plan to visit the others in the future.
I made several photographs that day and on my later visit. The photograph of the Burrows Insurance Agency was posted a few days ago, but here it is again:
Here is the Mexico Fire Department:
Click here to see my photographs of the small town of Mexico, Indiana.
One day near the end of January, I discovered that one of the dumpsters in the apartment complex I live in had been hit by a political protest of sorts. The spray-paint wielding citizen put our elected officials in their place by painting “Insert Politicions” on the front of the dumpster. Too bad he couldn’t spell P-O-L-I-T-I-C-I-A-N-S!
I made this photograph on Valentine’s Day. The dumpster was replaced with a new one soon after.
See more of my photographs of the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Powered by WordPress
