When I took this photograph with my new Pentax camera, I had no idea how much this image would change my life. Up until my point, my focus had been words, having recently completed a novel.
As for mechanical aptitude, the loading and unloading of film, the changing of lenses, and all that the use of a film camera entailed, was foreign to me. Then I received the prints of my camera outing, and I was suddenly a different person – an aspiring photographer.
I’d been out driving on a chilly winter day when from the highway I spotted the remains of a farmhouse in a field. The staircase was all that was left above ground. Hand-held, shot at f11, while crouching down in what had been a cellar, I took this photo. Enlarged to 11” x 14” and framed, it has hung in my every residence for more than 45 years.
Not only did I realize the potential of film to suggest a story through the smallest of details, but I also discovered what became a major theme for me: the abandoned, the decayed, and the ruined.
“Black and White is not just an artistic choice; it’s an emotional one as well. The emotion is stronger in black and white.”~ Tim Burton
Location: Rivers, Manitoba
Date, December, 1979
Source: Pentax ME Super with Black and White ASA 100 film
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