An Auspicious Year

Eric Kayne January 5, 2024

On New Year’s Day, I woke up wondering how to bring in an auspicious year. Browsing the Washington Post online, there was a photo of Great Falls National Park illustrating a weather forecast. Since I’d never been to the falls and have lived in DC for almost five years, I thought it would be a great start to the year to go visit.

I’ve been playing with my Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5 camera lately, a field view camera manufactured in the 1960’s, so I brought that along as I headed out to Virginia. I haven’t used it very much and practice makes perfect.

The first thing I’d thought I’d try is a basic view of the falls from one of the three observation points. I was surprised by the amount of people at the park as the morning was cold, gray and there was a light snow coming down that would soon turn to drizzle. I guess everyone saw the same weather forecast photo as me! Once I found a clear spot, I set up the camera.

The day being overcast, I brought along a yellow filter originally made for a Hasselblad medium format camera to handhold over the lens while I made an exposure. The yellow filter blocks out blue light, which increases contrast, making highlights brighter and shadows darker. The farther down the red spectrum you move in filtration, the greater the contrast increase.

As you can see, there is something to be said about using filters that are native to the lens. That big black thing in the corner of the frame is the filter I’m holding over the lens to increase contrast. Good thing it’s just practice!

Feeling claustrophobic while out in nature is always discombobulating, so I decided to move down the trail to find somewhere more quiet. Moving just off trail, I found a spot that would provide solitude and a nice framing of the Potomac river. Just as I had finished setting up, a voice behind me said “Hey, can you take our picture?”

I immediately said “Of course!” I had been itching to make some portraits with the Graflex, and here one fell in my lap, and in a beautiful landscape to boot! They were a young couple and they made their way down between my camera and the river. The young man said to let him know when I was ready, and I told him to make sure and stay still when I make the picture because it’ll be about a one second exposure.

Thinking he had some kind of creative pose in mind, I cocked the shutter, removed the darkslide and said, “okay, ready.” He then reached into his pocket, got on one knee and opened a ring box. “Oh!” I said, stopping short of defiling the moment with the next word in my head. In happy shock, I made an exposure, said “one more!”, flipped the film cassette, made one more exposure and thought about how photography is really magic sometimes.

There is a phenomenon that happens sometimes when I’m out with my camera where I feel the universe is saying “yes.” Clouds part at just the right moment, surrounding a farmhouse in light against a stormy landscape. A person wearing just the right outfit walks around the corner, adding a narrative element I didn’t know was missing. Or someone spontaneously uses me to document their wedding proposal surrounded by nature.

I gave them my deepest congratulations and thanked them for letting me be a part of this wonderful surprise. I walked out of the park feeling like this could be a really great year!

Burnouts and Boss Cars

Eric Kayne November 25, 2019

I’ve always wanted a hot rod, something loud and fast. Unfortunately it’s been a long series of used, practical cars since I was sixteen. Don’t get me wrong, I was more than happy to have a set of wheels to allay my boredom.

But wouldn’t allaying that boredom with a 500 horsepower engine, tuned headers, fat tires and a shiny paint job be so much better? I tend to think so. My respite recently has been visiting a couple of drag strips out here in Maryland - Cecil County Raceway in, you guessed it, Cecil county, near the Delaware border, and Capitol Raceway in Crofton, Maryland. Of course I love the speed and power of the machines, the smoke they throw behind them as the engine rages like an angry god. But I also love how accessible they are. I can walk around in the pits all day long.

But mostly, I love it because it’s good company. These are people who are passionate about going fast, expending a huge amount of time and money to feed their addiction to speed. What could be better? Check out the images below and let me know what you think!

Fifty from 50 - Images from US Highway 50, from California to Maryland, fourth in a series of posts

Eric Kayne April 30, 2019

Constructed in 1926, US 50 was part of the original United States highway system and extends from California to Maryland. Our recent move from Oakland, California to Silver Spring, Maryland near Washington, DC inspired me to travel on this historic byway and document my journey. All work was shot on a Mamiya 6, a film camera that creates negatives that are six centimeters square. This camera really forces me to shoot with intention. The film stock is mostly Ektar 100, for those who are curious.

Nativity tableaux, Linn, Missouri.

Santa horse, Louisburg, Kansas.

Kaskaskia river, Carlyle, Illinois.

Spring Hill Cemetery, Shoals, Indiana.

A murmuration of starlings near Odin, Illinois.

East Saint Louis, Illinois.

Swing set, Cottonwood Falls, Kansas.

Wheatland Generating Plant, Wheatland, Indiana.

Roof cow, Rowlesburg, West Virginia.

Grafton, West Virginia.

Nativity tableaux, Odin, Illinois.

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

Motel door, Pleasant Valley, West Virginia.

Tanner's Creek Generating Station, Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

Sunrise, Ladue, Missouri.

Fifty from 50 - Images from US Highway 50, from California to Maryland, third in a series of posts

Eric Kayne March 15, 2019

Cañon City, Colorado. These colorful cider bottles with the sun streaking through them caught my eye, but not just because of the color, but because they were very dusty. It boggled my mind that someone would put these bottles out for display to entice shoppers to stop inside their store wouldn’t clean their product of dust I could see from a moving car passing by on the street. I stopped and grabbed a few shots of totally meaningless eye candy, and then noticed an old Chevy around the corner in the parking lot. I made a few shots when an older woman with a heavy Germanic accent aggressively confronted me to ask what I was doing. I told her I was taking a picture of the car and she replied that there had been a lot of vandalism lately. Mind you, this was in the middle of the day along a major artery of Cañon City, in a parking lot that was empty save for the Chevy. All in all, not a great first impression for Cañon City. I cut off her rant by apologizing for disturbing her and walked back to my car. It’s too bad because in hindsight, I would have loved to make her portrait and buy some cider.

Museum of Colorado Prisons, Cañon City, Colorado. The website compels visitors to “unlock the past and experience the colorful history of prison life!”

A giant snow plow rests at Monarch Pass in Colorado. The pass sits on the continental divide at an elevation of 11,312 feet above sea level. I had great weather during the road trip and going through the pass in the middle of winter was a breeze – no snow plow required! Seeing this bright orange snow plow reminded me of a funny story my wife told me about learning to drive a stick-shift as a teenager. My mother-in-law told her she’d need to know how just in case she ever needed to drive a Snow-Cat. It seems hilarious because my wife is from St. Louis. But I suppose that since “The Shining” was still relatively fresh in people’s minds in those days, we all probably should have learned how to drive a Snow-Cat.

A decommissioned tank with the words “Spear Chucker” on the turret sits in the Offerle, Kansas city park.

Grain mill, Halstead, Kansas, photographed after eating a Subway sandwich. I realize grain mills at dusk are visual low hanging fruit, but I couldn’t resist!

A white-tailed deer sprints away from tracks left over from the old Santa Fe Trail near Dodge City, Kansas. Opened by Spaniards at the end of the 18th century, the Santa Fe Trail brought migrants into the west in the 19th century from 1821 until 1880.

Two views of the 8-ball water tower in Tipton, Missouri. The tower was built by Fisher Manufacturing, which for a time was the biggest maker of billiards tables, to protect its new factory from fire. The plant closed in 1977 and was bought by Fasco Manufacturing, which painted over the tower with its logo. Fasco closed in 1989 and the town decided to repaint the tower with an 8-ball in 1999. The tower is sometimes recognized as the world’s largest 8-ball.

Two views of the capitol building in Jefferson City, Missouri. The building is undergoing renovations but it looked like Christo and Jeanne-Claude had been by and wrapped the building like they did the Reichstag.

Two views of an abandoned school in Bushong, Kansas, population 34. The town was named after St. Louis Browns catcher Albert J. "Doc" Bushong who played in the 1886 World Series, beating the Chicago White Stockings. Bushong was also the location of an Atlas missile base, abandoned in 1965. Unfortunately, I didn’t know about the missile base while I was in the town, despite it being only 10 minutes away. However, it’s a great reason to head back out on the road!

“Paulhenge,” located in Versailles, Indiana. The sun shines through the holes on solstices and equinoxes .

Stonehenge structure, Matfield Green, Kansas, population 47. According to Wikipedia, the village contains a small colony of artists and writers. I assume their Stonehenge structure is an art project and gathering place.

Fifty from 50 - Images from US Highway 50, from California to Maryland, second in a series of posts

Eric Kayne February 27, 2019

Graffiti covers a metal wall inside a target structure at the Dixie Valey Naval Training Area. The valley was acquired from local ranchers by the US Navy for electronic warfare simulation in 1995. The water table is very high in the area and many ranches in fact were beginning to experience sinkholes and subsidence.

Target structure at the Dixie Valey Naval Training Area. The valley was acquired from local ranchers by the US Navy for electronic warfare simulation in 1995. The water table is very high in the area and many ranches in fact were beginning to experience sinkholes and subsidence.

Graffiti at Sand Bench Viewing Area in Utah. The pullout features spectacular views of the San Rafael Swell, an area managed by the Bureau of Land Management, consists of a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago.

A man jumps in the air for a photograph at the Sand Bench Viewing Area in Utah. The pullout features spectacular views of the San Rafael Swell, an area managed by the Bureau of Land Management, consists of a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago.

Ticket booth, Blackhawk Arena, Salina, Utah.

Camp Salina, a former WWII POW camp in Salina, Utah, is the site of the worst POW massacre in United States history. American private Clarence Bertucci, immediately after beginning his guard duty around midnight, fired a .30 caliber M1917 Browning machine gun into thirty of the forty-three prisoner tents, unloading 250 rounds in about 15 seconds. Most of the German soldiers were from Erwin Rommel's Afrikakorps. Nine soldiers were killed and nineteen were wounded. Bertucci, who already had two prior court martials, concluded that he had hated Germans, so he had killed Germans. Bertucci was found to be insane by military officials and spent the rest of his life in Mason General Hospital in Brentwood, New York until his death in December 1969.

A roadside Native American statue in Salina, Utah. The statue used to be a slave holding a cup, but was rebuilt sometime between 2003 and 2004. The cup was changed to an axe, and the slave was transformed into a Native American.

The home of the Herbert Clutter family, Holcomb, Kansas. The four family members were murdered in the home in 1959 and were the subject of Truman Capote’s masterpiece “In Cold Blood.”

Fifty from 50 - Images from US Highway 50, from California to Maryland, first in a series of posts

Eric Kayne February 21, 2019

Constructed in 1926, US 50 was part of the original United States highway system and extends from California to Maryland. Our recent move from Oakland, California to Silver Spring, Maryland inspired me to travel on this historic byway and document my journey. This image was made in western Kansas, where the US 50 runs almost parallel to the old Santa Fe Trail, a critical transportation route in the 19th century.

A demilitarized tank sits at the Dixie Valley Naval Training Area. Dixie Valley was a small ranching community outside of Fallon, Nevada that was acquired by the US Navy for electronic warfare simulation in 1995. While most of the area is publicly accessible, a sign near the entrance states “The land beyond this sign is used by NAS Fallon for military training. Low flying aircraft, military vehicles and personnel may be using flares, smoke/simulator grenades, and blank fire ordinance on this area at any time.” Needless to say, I wasn’t attacked while I was there. The area was quiet and vast. While researching the area, where other demilitarized vehicles and radar stations are spread across the valley, it was suggested that Dixie Valley was used to mock an invasion by a foreign power on American soil. Also, the Navy’s “TOPGUN” program (Naval Fighter Weapons Program), moved from Miramar, California to the area a year after Dixie Valley was acquired. If anyone has an idea of what kind of tank this is, please let me know in the comments!

It’s hard to describe the isolation of Dixie Valley, a former ranching community in the Nevada desert now used for combat simulation by the US Navy. So, imagine my surprise when I met this cowboy as I was going down the last road I told myself I’d explore in the valley before moving on down US 50. I stopped and we chatted for a spell and he told me I was the first person he’d spoken with in weeks. Apparently, the valley is not just for combat simulation, but is also interspersed with ranchland. He was preparing to ride out into the desert to drive cattle to another pasture, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was completely jealous. He’s originally from Cleveland, Ohio but made his way to the desert after a series of moves that became more and more rural as time went on.

Street signs mark a former neighborhood in Dixie Valley, Nevada. The area was purchased by the US Navy in 1995 to use for combat simulation by fighter and electronic warfare pilots. There’s a part of me that is fascinated by neighborhoods that revert back to nature ever since portions of my childhood neighborhood were allowed to return to nature following a 100-year flood.

A demilitarized troop carrier, used as target practice inside the Dixie Valley Naval Training Area in the Nevada desert. The area was purchased by the US Navy in 1995 to use for combat simulation by fighter and electronic warfare pilots. The area is littered with decommissioned tanks, radar stations, troop vehicles and other abandoned structures. While the area is publicly accessible, there is still a warning sign at the entrance to the valley stating that the area is still actively used for training purposes.

Buses traveling back from the sierras to a school district near San Jose.

Cattle watering troughs near Dixie Valley, Nevada.

A Project Shoal Nuclear Test Site monitoring well in the Nevada desert. The underground nuclear test took place October 26, 1963 to compare seismic activity between a natural earthquake and a nuclear blast. The 12-kiloton device was detonated at 1,211 feet underground.

A wall of polaroids at La Fiesta restaurant in Ely, Nevada made on a dinner break on a cross country trip from California to Maryland on US Highway 50.