Driving from Bryce Canyon to Escalante, my attention was grabbed by this abandoned corner store in Henrieville, Utah. I'm pretty sure the Coca-Cola sign had everything to do with my attraction to this site. My dad worked for Coke most of his adult life, and I spent my high school summers working at the Coca-Cola office in Toronto. I looked up Henrieville online tonight to see what I could learn. Its population in 2000 was 159, and the population of its zip code 84736 in 2007 is 961 according to another site I found. In either case, Henrieville is truly a small western town.
After days of shooting the "grand landscape" at Bryce Canyon, it was a lot of fun to settle in and work at closer range at this site. In fact, I noticed that I was feeling quite refreshed after an hour or so of shooting; I was exercising different visual muscles.
Texture is one of my favourite subjects. Narrowing my vision to the details of a structure gives me the opportunity to express my vision by creating abstract images. Sometimes I the feedback I receive when I show my images is that I made something out of nothing. The first couple of times I heard this comment, I wondered if it was derogatory. It may have been, but I also think that making something out of nothing is a defining characteristic of photography as art. What does a photographer do? We go out into the world, beyond the creature comforts of a studio, and bring home a vision of the world that is uniquely our own.....on a good day, anyways!
7 comments:
I remember driving through that town. I am from a big city (Boston), so I figured there would be a gas station or hotel there.....you captured how naive I was!!
If you are going through HENRIEVILLE take a side trip to Kodachrome State Park. Unique rock formations and a great campground.literi
Dude. I go there almost every summer. Almost everyone in that town I'm practically related to. Haha it's so small I couldn't imagine living there. But I love it never the less. Climbing on the mountains are the best.
I owned a place and lived in this town for 7 years. Everyone in town "is" related. It is a beautiful area.
I appreciated your take on my hometown. I grew up there and always felt like my life was truly 1950's Americana -- Mark Twain style. We had huts, underground caves, trails only we knew of and freedom that no one enjoys today. We skinny-dipped and rode our horses all over that country. We owned cattle and we were privileged to be a part of that great long-lost life style. Thanks for the pictures/memories. I could tell you lots of stories about that old store building that belonged to my uncle
I grew up in Henrieville, buying 25-cent cans of root beer at that very store before it was closed.
A lot of my relatives still live there. I visit periodically, and every visit sparks a dream of going back forever. That tiny town is a slice of paradise.
My father was born in Henrieville in 1923. My Grandfather homesteaded three miles north up by Jimmie Canyon and the Coal Bench. He died in 1930 and is buried there along with two of my uncles and aunts. We traveled through Cottonwood canyon every 24th of July for the Pioneer Day Celebration. It was a magical event and ended with a Rodeo in Tropic and a street dance. The house my Grandfather built is still there and occupied. He had a large apple orchard and grafter apple trees to create variety for taste.
Nothing but very fond loving memories there.
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