There is no shortage of abandoned industrial area photos. It seems there is always transition in these places as technology and business changes faster than production can keep up.
This shot is one I had been looking for a reason to shoot for some time. I could never really figure out what it is that I wanted to frame. I was finally able to distill the area down to two elements, the stop sign and the railway.
This upside down stop sign is prominent in a few of my shots of the area, but the empty street assignment forced me to take the surroundings out and focus on the street. In other shots the sign is part of the larger groups of buildings and elements, getting lost in the clutter.
Sometime you need a little external influence to force you to get closer and simplify and in this case I liked the result.
On Taking Assignments
I frequently listen to the On Taking Pictures (OTP) podcast, which I highly recommend to anyone looking for good conversation about creativity, especially as it related to photography. In January 2014 the hosts, Bill Wadman and Jeffery Saddoris, began a new segment of weekly assignments that they gave to listeners. Results of the assignments are posted on the OTP Google Plus group. I decided that I would commit myself to the assignments for a year without interruption, and that I would complete each one before the next assignment was announced on the show each Tuesday morning. My 'On Taking Assignments' blog posts are the culmination of my year-long focus on these assignments.