Sunday, November 05, 2023

A moment in Tavistock

Witness to history
Tavistock, ON
November 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram


We’re in the middle of a long drive home through the rural Ontario countryside when we stop in a quiet town for some much needed caffeine.

As I finish parking, I look around and realize we’re surrounded by a frozen-in-time streetscape seemingly ripped from a Sears catalog. My brain spins thoughts of a super-quick walkabout to grab a few pics of this lovely place before we get back on the road.

I give my deeply understanding wife that familiar look she’s seen too many times before. She nods as I pull out my smartphone and engage in the fastest random photo shoot of my life.

The ancient facade on Hope Street West pulls me in instantly, its worn, often-repaired brickwork betraying its triple-digit age. On any other day, I’d have probably delved a little more into this stunning piece of architectural history, but a stranger in a pickup had just parked immediately left-of-frame, and was eyeing me suspiciously as he took a toolbox out and slammed the tailgate shut.

So I waited for him to walk away, then shot this single frame before turning back to our car. In all, it took 4 minutes, and reminded me of the power of photography to hold onto moments and places and people that would otherwise go unrecorded.

We’ll never capture everything, of course. But a furtive in-between moment in a small town feels like the right place to start.

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Related:
Silos of history, August 2019

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