New Photography project

I think going to take on a new project, just to make sure I do this thing I've had in the back of my mind for a long time. I don't know the best way to describe but it has to do with hulking masses of abandoned and discarded mechanical equipment. This facination goes back many, many years. I guess in part back to the the old Ford graveyard on my uncles property. They always drove Ford vehicles and when they died or otherwise ended their useful life, they old cars and trucks ended up at the bottom of the field. As a kid it was cool look around, play in the vehicles (not always safe since we were shooting out lights and windows with pellet guns, etc) but see the different innovations, like pushbutton transmissions, etc.

Over the years I've taken pictures of these sites, but not to extent I would like to. Typically my shots have been more focused on individual items than "collections", but in our travels I have seen some interesting collections. And these collections appear to serve many purposes. Some are artistic, like Cadillac Ranch, some are commercial, like the wide variety of salvage yards that dot the countryside, and even then there is a subset within this commercial category. A great example of that subset is Earl Mann's Bug Shop in Ardmore, OK. I visited that yard several years ago (pre-digital) and it was great, countless VW's and in various states of dis-repair with grass growing up through them, etc. Great place for photos.

Some of the other collections appear to be just that. Some may have some commercial enterprise just by default, but the origin tends to be either like my uncle, a dumping ground for useless equipment, or perhaps a personal taste or passion by the owner and the start of a collection that has grown out of control. There is one collecition of rusted tractors, mostly smaller tractors, in a yard just west of Paris, TX that is really the inspiration for this project. I have ridden by it many times, each time thinking I need to go back and shoot.

I have seen a variety of these "boneyard" including boats, bicycles, motorcycles, tractors, lawnmowers, and lots that aren't that specific although those are as interesting to me as a specific collection.

Greg Windsor posted a couple of pictures recently of a Combine boneyard (near Canyon, TX) that I have to track down at some point. But for now, here is a teaser of Cadillac Ranch.