Friday, 1 October 2010

Sanctuary (Along Skyline Drive)


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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/The_Library_of_Congress_-_%28View_along_US_40_in_Mount_Vernon_Canyon%2C_Colorado%29_%28LOC%29.jpg

View along US 40 in Mount Vernon Canyon, Colorado: photo by Andreas Feininger, December 1942

Start out high above the world


Road Cut into the Barren Hills (1)

Road cut into the barren hills which lead into Emmett, Idaho: photo by Russell Lee, July 1941


Things appear in some depth


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Mountain farms along the Skyline Drive, Virginia: photo by Jack Delano, c. 1940


and with a bit of distance


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Mountain farm along the Skyline Drive in Virginia: photo by Jack Delano, c. 1940


then return to earth



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Fields along the Skyline Drive, Virginia: photo by Jack Delano, c. 1940

Photos from Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress

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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous1 October 2010 at 03:52

    When I finished looking at and reading this series, the thought I had was "sanctuary" and then I read the title. That was great. I took the Skyline Drive trip with my family when I was about 17. It was splendid, as are all of these photographs.

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  2. TC1 October 2010 at 04:22

    Curtis,

    What a beauteous slice of earth that is... I tried to keep my mind off the political thicket surrounding the construction of that park, a New Deal project which happened to involve the forcible "removal" of a great many mountain folk who would likely have preferred the determination of their own fate. Of course a few of the most stubborn (and elderly) hill folk were quietly allowed to stay on, rent free, until their deaths; which in some cases (stubborn to the end) was quite a while.

    So that's when Delano was sent out on the drive, just after the official opening of the park.

    There seems something so securing in these images, spaces out of another time (or perhaps dimension).

    In noir films cars were always crashing through these railings at night and tumbling down the cliffs. But Kodachrome does wonders for the mood.

    And is that not a lovely green 1940 Buick convertible Andreas Feininger possessed?

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  3. gamefaced1 October 2010 at 06:58

    i live about a half hour from the entry to skyline in front royal virginia. i try to go this time of year, every year. normally more crowded - everyone wants to see the valley as the leaves die.

    some (crappy) pics from three (?) years ago..

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  4. gamefaced1 October 2010 at 06:58

    http://s97.photobucket.com/albums/l214/charlottesometimes78/

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  5. TC1 October 2010 at 07:51

    gamefaced,

    Many thank-yous for those. I thought they were a lot better than half bad. Especially liked this one.

    (I'm a sucker for pink trees.)

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  6. gamefaced1 October 2010 at 07:56

    give it two weeks and they'll all be in varying shades of pink. orange. big bird color.

    i took my son with me that year and he was not impressed. i had to click fast ; )

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  7. Anonymous1 October 2010 at 10:52

    The Buick convertible is really, really nice.

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