The Store by the Road
Driving down the road late in the year in southeastern Washington, my eye was caught by this abandoned store under the naked limbs of a grove of huge maples. Peering through the windows, I was barely able to discern piles of old furniture and discarded office equipment. The back porch was piled high with eddies of dried leaves that rustled with each swirl of the chill autumn wind. I propped my little pocket tripod on the hood of my car and took this image on XP-2 with my 1928 No. 1 Kodak using the f/6.3 Anastigmat at f/16.
It is impossible for me to comprehend what it would have been like to visit this store when it was an ongoing enterprise — but looking at an image made by a camera that is the store’s contemporary is thought provoking.