photo art friday - derelict

One person's derelict is another person's beauty

When I read the Photo Art Friday challenge for this week

over at Bonnie's Pixel Dust Photo Art,

I was thrilled that it came at a time

when I would be heading up north!

As I headed up on Wednesday morning,

I was all ready to photograph my favourite

derelict garage in Minden, Ontario...

: : :

Side note: 
Favourite because it was the subject of the 'outside my comfort zone' challenge 

over at Vivienne McMaster's Rule Free Photography course last year.

You can see the explanation of that challenge

and why these photos 'qualified' here.

: : :

As I drove along the highway coming into Minden 

I first noticed the absence of the familiar sign...

and then I realized...

Walker's Garage is gone!!

I asked a few questions of the locals, who revealed that the garage

that I had photographed late last November

has actually been a HUGE bone of contention in the area.

Rumour has it,

that the battle over the future of Walker's Garage

has been raging for years!

So I visited my friend Google for a little recon...

Apparently, some felt it was an historic building...

and others...not so much

... as the Minden Times reported last December:

"The reeve was urging the instant demolition

of an old auto-repair shop that is to be replaced

by a new county building.

The old Walker's garage, she announced, is 'unsightly'."

Unsightly in a charming way, I thought.

Neil Campbell, the reporter for the Minden Times article put it well...

"Unsightly? It might need a shave and a haircut after sitting empty for a while, 
but it looks pretty much as it always has, 
the way service stations have always looked. 
Neat but not gaudy."

I find myself wondering what happened to the really cool stuff that was still inside the garage...

I tried at the time to take photos of that cool stuff through the windows...

(take note of the paint on the walls and wood window frames)

In fact,

trying to take those photos resulted in the accidental 'selfie' 

that is now my profile picture!! 

A little more research led to the discovery of an Engineering firm's report

to the Director of the County Roads Department, on September 17, 2012

where it was reported that:

"The demolition of the Walker building was complicated 

by the presence of lead paint on the exterior of the building. 

Samples were sent to SGS Laboratory and it was determined 

that the levels of lead were higher in the darker green paint 

than the lighter green or blue paint"

Apparently I even captured a photo of leaded paint...who knew?

I am so glad that I got these photos before Walker's was levelled.

When I think of all the barns, sunrises/sunsets, trees and other photos

that I haven't taken while driving back and forth over the past month,

always telling myself that I will have another chance to capture them...

well...

 let this be a lesson to me! 

Be sure to pop over to Photo Art Friday
and see the wonderful art folks have created this week

Janet xo