Sunday, August 01, 2021

Finding life at the crossroads

Life happens here
Elginfield, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Elginfield is a tiny crossroads around 20 minutes north of #LdnONT. There isn't much here beyond a fabulous roadside restaurant, a church, a school, a place that'll sell you an RV, and another place that'll weld that RV when it inevitably breaks.

There used to be a gas station here, but it closed up years ago, only to be replaced by a place that sold garden sheds. It, too, has now disappeared, leaving behind little more than disappointed gardeners, crumbling asphalt, and windblown weeds in its wake. And while you occasionally have to look a little harder for signs of life, you're rewarded with hauntingly beautiful scenes when you take the time to do so.

We often pass through here on our way somewhere else, and sometimes I'll stop in the restaurant's parking lot and shoot the landscape. On this visit, the timing works out nicely, as it's almost sunset when I pull in.

The farm that stretches across the rolling landscape in the distance almost seems to hide its stories in this silhouetted ridge, two-dimensional snippets of lives that play out far more richly than the average passer-by would likely ever appreciate.

Soon enough, it's time to head home. But this barely-visible place has a hold on me that I can't quite explain, and I'm sure it won't be long before I return here in search of other ways to tell its story.

#elginfield #london #ontario #canada #sun #sunset #sky #country #farm #rural #roadside #tree #trees #silhouette #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:
Muted landscape, November 2011
Under a blood red sky, November 2009
An idyllic peek, October 2004


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