Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Fixtures on a windswept main street

While wandering the gorgeously detailed streets of Georgetown, Colorado, I came across some old fixtures and machines that almost begged to have their picture taken. Of course, logic dictates that they're technically incapable of begging. But they beckoned me to take the camera out all the same.

This is a giant old compressor that I found just beside the town's main drag. I'm not sure what an obsolete piece of machinery was doing sitting out in the open, but I realize it wasn't really my place to ask. I had a camera in my hand, and I wasn't leaving until I captured the texture of a machine that had likely been sitting there, ignored, for longer than I've been alive.


Barely a block away, I had to sit way down on the sidewalk to get the angle that I wanted for this fire hydrant. I've taken hydrant pictures before (see here) and it's a theme that doesn't seem to get old. They look different in every town, and it's always a challenge to try to capture these fairly static pieces of metal in unique, compelling ways. Of course, this was lost on the local folks who wondered why the stranger in the red hooded sweatshirt was splayed out on the cold concrete.

For the memory of the moment, of course.

Your turn: The next time you're out and about, please take a moment to identify - and capture, if you've got a camera handy - a piece of machinery or infrastructure that would otherwise be forgotten. What kinds of things do you think you'll find?

6 comments:

Booster MPS said...

Exactly, for the memory of the moment.

http://static.flickr.com/81/242744291_5aabe86824_b.jpg

kenju said...

Carmi, only you could find the beauty in a forgotten, now useless piece of equipment.

Around here, I might find cast off bits from the building boom we are experiencing.

Anonymous said...

The city we used to live in painted all of their hydrants to look like dalmations. Pretty cute.

I'll keep this in mind as we travel. Here in Mississippi abandoned farm equipment is the norm.

srp said...

Well, I have looked at this fire hydrant of yours as large as possible. The barrel is stamped with the manufacturer, the date, and the place.
It is a Mueller, looks like 1973 to me and made in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

It is probably a model 107 because of the date and the look. Mueller moved the manufacturing plant from Chattanooga to Albertville, Alabama in 1975 so it has to be made before then.

In 1857, Heironymous Mueller founded the company in Decatur, IL. In 1933 they bought Columbia Iron Works and hydrants became part of their product line. Columbian Iron Works had manufactured hydrants since 1908 and was located in Chattanooga, TN. This is interesting because Decatur, Illinois is in the southern part of the state close to where my dad was raised. Decatur was the "big city" back then and is not too far from CARMI, Illinois.... See how this twisted comment goes?

Information on hydrants from here. Also, I try to get a close up of the top bonnet as some companies put information about the manufacture there as well as on the side of the barrel.

And in reference to kontan's comment. I wonder if that is down near the coast of Mississippi. My daughter took a picture of a "dalmation" hydrant while in Pass Christian for Thanksgiving. (before Katrina).

Jennifer said...

you've just been pimped!

Killired: NaBloPoMo #22 Blog Pimpin'

Anonymous said...

I really love these pictures. I've only just started to try to bring my camera with me when I go out. I'll have to see what I come up with.