Some new photos from Fort Wayne

Pál_K said:
Amazing!

That reminds me of a similar situation and shock I had.

In 2013 I was doing some temporary contract work and on my drive to work I noticed this … structure … (I’m being deliberately vague here) which seemed to loom over the landscape. I started making photos of it - from a distance and close up. I realized that the photo angle I wanted could only be made from land across the highway, but I wasn’t sure how to get to the spot I needed (the land across the highway was a maze of small farms, fields, and light industrial warehouses). So I used Google Maps to look at the area and find my way.

Once I was at the proper location across the highway for my photos, I noticed that the little road I was on, which was more of a paved path than a road, was lined with rows of nice large trees on each side. The road continued for a short distance, to a sort of traffic circle. One exit of the circle was barricaded and I noticed that trees had been cut down along the road along the barricaded exit. That was actually a longer road. So, clearly, the land beyond the traffic circle was being developed.

Curious about this location now, I looked at the satellite view of Google Maps and then the Street View. The Street View! I was amazed - what it showed was that in the recent past there had actually been a single long road lined with these nice large trees on each side, forming a canopy for the entire length. So that was now gone except for the short length of road I had been on. What could I do to preserve this earlier view? The only thing I could think of was to make screenshots from Street View. That is what I did and I put these all together in a document on my PC.

I haven’t shown it to anyone yet - I have just one printed copy. What someone would see on viewing this document are about a dozen photos of pleasant scenes along this tree-lined road - as if actually being there. The last page, however, simply has the words “This no longer exists.”

None of those trees exist now; not a single one. The road has also been renamed - because its original name wouldn’t make sense now in the absence of any trees and might even make someone wonder what existed before. Oddly Google Street View has not caught up to the present, but shows the road as I saw it in 2013. I suspect even that view will be gone soon.
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I've seen that sort of thing happen a lot. Many of the places that I have photographed have been destroyed. Trees bulldozed, buildings torn down. We preserve 'what was' so that those to come will know what had been.






This is one of my favorite examples. This house sat abandoned for many years on the northeastern edge of Fort Wayne. I lived near there at the time and often drive past it, but had not had a chance to photograph it. One day, I drive by and saw a bulldozer in the yard in front of it. I went back the next day and photographed it. The inside was incredible. In the walk-in attic, I found this:






A wedding dress left hanging in the attic, still in plastic protective bag. The roof was mostly gone, the floor covered in ice and snow, but the dress remained. The house was demolished the next day.
 
Astounding!

That photo is almost haunting. I wonder about the family who lived there.


Chriscrawfordphoto said:
…We preserve 'what was' so that those to come will know what had been.
…
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I hope it becomes more than that - maybe to get people to realize what they’re doing, what they’re losing. I know that’s not always the case, but sometimes it is. In the example of the tree-lined path, today I see it was totally unnecessary to cut those trees down. The few businesses in that area are surrounded by fields and they already have developed roads leading to them.

I can only imagine what it must have been like maybe only 15 years ago, for people to drive a short distance from work or home to this pastoral setting, park along that long path with maybe 50 to 80 large trees forming a broad canopy for half a mile, warm sunshine flickering through the leaves in a light breeze. Now there’s nothing left, for no reason.
 





Polaroid photograph of the demolition of Saint Joseph Hospital on the corner of Broadway and Main Street in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. This is the north end of the building; the last remaining part of the hospital and the last part to be taken down. It is also the newest part of the building. I photographed it from Van Buren Street, looking northeast.

Founded in 1869, Saint Joseph Hospital was the oldest hospital in Fort Wayne. It closed in November, 2021 and demolition began in 2022.

Originally a Roman Catholic hospital, Saint Joseph was sold years ago to a big for-profit company that also owns Lutheran Hospital and Dupont Hospital in Fort Wayne. The company built a new, much smaller hospital one block over on the corner of Main Street and Van Buren Street to replace the aging Saint Joseph Hospital. The Saint Joseph name was not kept; the new hospital is called "Lutheran Downtown."

10-28-22
 




Polaroid photograph of the demolition of Saint Joseph Hospital on the corner of Broadway and Main Street in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. This is the north end of the building; the last remaining part of the hospital and the last part to be taken down. It is also the newest part of the building. I photographed it from Van Buren Street, looking east toward what had been the back of the building.

Founded in 1869, Saint Joseph Hospital was the oldest hospital in Fort Wayne. It closed in November, 2021 and demolition began in 2022.

Originally a Roman Catholic hospital, Saint Joseph was sold years ago to a big for-profit company that also owns Lutheran Hospital and Dupont Hospital in Fort Wayne. The company built a new, much smaller hospital one block over on the corner of Main Street and Van Buren Street to replace the aging Saint Joseph Hospital. The Saint Joseph name was not kept; the new hospital is called "Lutheran Downtown."

10-28-22
 





Polaroid photograph of the demolition of Saint Joseph Hospital on the corner of Broadway and Main Street in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. This is the north end of the building; the last remaining part of the hospital and the last part to be taken down. It is also the newest part of the building. I photographed it from Broadway, looking west toward what had been the front of the building.

The antenna on top of the building is a relic of the helicopter landing pad that was mounted atop this section of the building. The emergency department was on the lower floors of this part of the hospital.

10-28-22
 
A dramatic photo! Chris, do you have any photos of the hospital pre-demolition, when it was in active use?
 




Polaroid photograph of the demolition of Saint Joseph Hospital on the corner of Broadway and Main Street in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. A crane with a claw on the end of the boom stands in front of the last remaining part of the hospital and the last part to be taken down. It is also the newest part of the building.

Founded in 1869, Saint Joseph Hospital was the oldest hospital in Fort Wayne. It closed in November, 2021 and demolition began in 2022.

Originally a Roman Catholic hospital, Saint Joseph was sold years ago to a big for-profit company that also owns Lutheran Hospital and Dupont Hospital in Fort Wayne. The company built a new, much smaller hospital one block over on the corner of Main Street and Van Buren Street to replace the aging Saint Joseph Hospital. The Saint Joseph name was not kept; the new hospital is called "Lutheran Downtown."

10-28-22
 




Another photo of the crane with the demolition claw standing in front of the small remaining part of Saint Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
 
I am enjoying these photos even though I normally don’t like to see buildings being torn down.

Also: the color is just amazing. Although I have new packs of “Polaroid” (Impossible) film, I haven’t used them yet. The last time I used such film was about five or more years ago; I heard that it was improved, but what I’m seeing here is amazing. The colors I was getting were washed out and had limited range. For instant photos I’ve been playing with Fuji instax for a few years - better quality than my Polaroid photos, but still not the equal of this.

My Polaroid cameras, excluding 100-series pack film cameras, are an original SX-70, an SLR 690, and a Spectra 1200. The only control over exposure I have is the exposure dial which I think gives +/- 1 stop.

Chris, do you have one of those MiNT Polaroids that allow selection of shutter speeds? Either way, you have really mastered how to get the very best from this film.
 
Pál_K said:
I am enjoying these photos even though I normally don’t like to see buildings being torn down.

Also: the color is just amazing. Although I have new packs of “Polaroid” (Impossible) film, I haven’t used them yet. The last time I used such film was about five or more years ago; I heard that it was improved, but what I’m seeing here is amazing. The colors I was getting were washed out and had limited range. For instant photos I’ve been playing with Fuji instax for a few years - better quality than my Polaroid photos, but still not the equal of this.

My Polaroid cameras, excluding 100-series pack film cameras, are an original SX-70, an SLR 690, and a Spectra 1200. The only control over exposure I have is the exposure dial which I think gives +/- 1 stop.

Chris, do you have one of those MiNT Polaroids that allow selection of shutter speeds? Either way, you have really mastered how to get the very best from this film.
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I don't have the Mint camera. The manual shutter control on it is actually a worthless feature. There are two reasons: One is that when you use the manual shutter option on that camera, the lens aperture is stuck wide open at f8. The lens vignettes a good amount at f8 and is less sharp than when stopped down. The second reason is that the manual shutter control only allows setting in one stop increments. The Polaroid film has NO exposure latitude. NONE. Even a 1/4 stop change is noticeable. A 1/2 stop change on Polaroid looks like a one stop change on a digital camera or regular e-6 slide film.

The current Polaroid film does have a very limited dynamic range; contrast is very high, but interestingly the blacks are not that deep and the whites are not that bright. This gives high contrast midtones and a lot of tonal compression and detail loss in the very dark and very light tones.

I have an SX-70 that was converted to use 600 film. I've found that most people overexpose the current Polaroid films. My camera often gives better results set to give less than normal exposure. The examples on Polaroid's website and the shots I see others post online look washed out and flat because of the overexposure. Less exposure keeps highlight details from blowing out and increases color saturation a lot.

Polaroid's website recommends giving 1/2 stop less exposure in bright sun and normal exposure in softer light. I find that sometimes is true and sometimes I get best exposure giving 1/2 stop less than Polaroid's recommendations. If the scene is mostly dark tones, that is especially true. If the scene is mostly white, like the one below, I have the hardest time with exposure.





You need to give more than normal exposure with white scenes. This one looked best with 3/4 stop over normal. Given that the normal setting really overexposes slightly in my experience, I was really giving a little more than one stop over.

The lighten darken control on the SX-70 cameras has three marks on each side of the normal setting. Each mark represents a 1/2 stop change toward over or under exposure and allows you to set as much as 1.5 stops of change in either direction. The +3/4 stop exposure I gave the photo of my house was done by setting the exposure control to a setting halfway between the first and second marks on the 'lighten' side. Although I have gotten good at guessing what exposure setting to use, I still bracket exposures just to be sure, and this practice has saved many images. It is wasteful, and expensive. If I were an average person buying a Polaroid camera to do family snapshot stuff, I'd be pissed because the films today just plain don't give perfect results without a lot of exposure bracketing and part of the issue is that I think the films are faster than they claim (which is why most shots are overexposed unless you dial in some darkening). The old Polaroid films back in the 90s gave good results with normal exposure much more often and they had a wider tonal range.

Polaroid actually admits on their website that the current SX-70 film is faster than the original stuff, so you have to dial in about 2/3 stop less exposure! Why the Hell they did that is beyond comprehension. Like I said, I suspect that the 600 film is faster than claimed too, just because so much of what I see online is overexposed and my own experience shows that I get better results most of the time giving less than normal exposure unless the subject is very light toned.
 




Polaroid photograph of the demolition of Saint Joseph Hospital on the corner of Broadway and Main Street in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. This precarious-looking tower was the last remaining part of the hospital and the last part to be taken down. It was the northern end of the hospital, and was also the newest part of the building.

The cables dangling from the upper floors are relics of the failed attempts to pull the building down. The cables had been attached to the excavators that were used to break away the outer walls; the idea was that the excavators would all pull away in unison, pulling the structure down. The middle part of the hospital had been successfully taken down using that technique, but the north end of the building was too strongly built and stubbornly refused to fall. After each failure, the demolition crew would use cutting torches to cut through and weaken some of the steel beams that made up the building's framework before making another attempt.

Founded in 1869, Saint Joseph Hospital was the oldest hospital in Fort Wayne. It closed in November, 2021 and demolition began in 2022.

Originally a Roman Catholic hospital, Saint Joseph was sold years ago to a big for-profit company that also owns Lutheran Hospital and Dupont Hospital in Fort Wayne. The company built a new, much smaller hospital one block over on the corner of Main Street and Van Buren Street to replace the aging Saint Joseph Hospital. The Saint Joseph name was not kept; the new hospital is called "Lutheran Downtown."

The gray building visible in the background of this photograph is the new Lutheran Downtown Hospital.

10-29-22
 
Chris - that post is gold. Thank you. Polaroid should pay you to have a web site that explains how to get the best results from their film.

So, being familiar with the old original Polaroid, I was happy with the results most of the time. This new film baffled me when I started using it a few years ago. Apparently I was not underexposing it enough. The white house photo at +3/4 stop is not something I would have thought of, as it seems counterintuitive - but obviously you’re correct as the result speaks for itself.

So you are saying that what a person needs to know for various subjects is how the meter is going to control the exposure, how the film is going to react, and then knowing how to override it properly. A technique which is both science and art!
 
Pál_K said:
Chris - that post is gold. Thank you. Polaroid should pay you to have a web site that explains how to get the best results from their film.

So, being familiar with the old original Polaroid, I was happy with the results most of the time. This new film baffled me when I started using it a few years ago. Apparently I was not underexposing it enough. The white house photo at +3/4 stop is not something I would have thought of, as it seems counterintuitive - but obviously you’re correct as the result speaks for itself.

So you are saying that what a person needs to know for various subjects is how the meter is going to control the exposure, how the film is going to react, and then knowing how to override it properly. A technique which is both science and art!
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I decided to start a new thread for this discussion of Polaroid technical stuff, including a response to this post.

https://www.rangefinderforum.com/node/4808852
 




Polaroid photograph of the demolition of Saint Joseph Hospital on the corner of Broadway and Main Street in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. Some trucks belonging to the the company doing the demolition, Britt Demolition and Recycling, are parked in one of the entrances to the demolition site.

One of the trucks has a sticker on the back that says: "If my truck is dirty, call my boss."

10-29-22
 





Polaroid photograph of the Saint Joseph Hospital demolition site on the corner of Broadway and Main Street in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. Most of the hospital has been pulled down, leaving only this small tower. Saint Joseph Hospital was built in stages over a period of more than 100 years. This was the north end of the building; it was the last part of the building to be constructed, and will be the last part to be demolished.

A couple of the demolition workers can be seen standing in front of the remains of the hospital, taking a short break. I photographed it from Broadway, looking at what had been the front of the hospital.

10-29-22
 
Very interesting history in all this. Has the city indicated what will be at that location in the future?
 
Pál_K said:
Very interesting history in all this. Has the city indicated what will be at that location in the future?
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The land is still owned by the corporation that owned the hospital. They built a new hospital across the street and the lend where the old one stood will become a parking lot.
 




Polaroid snapshot of a house decorated for Halloween with big creepy inflatable eyeballs. The house is on the south side of Wayne Street, between Nelson Street and College Street, in the West Central neighborhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

10-30-22
 




Polaroid snapshot of an old house on the south side of Jefferson Boulevard, between Nelson Street and College Street, in the West Central neighborhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana. There is an orange chair taking up a lot of the space on the house's small front step.

10-30-22
 
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