Granite Quarry Aerial

Fading Family Farm Landscape

Black And White Photography, C.S. Young Jr., Photography

When originally built, I suspect this barn was used to maintain a variety of crops for the family and local community. Now the barn is only used to store a tractor, used to cut grass now growing in former crop fields. These old barns and family farms are quickly disappearing from the rural American landscape.

Cheers,

C. S.

Ashe County Tobacco Barn

Black And White Photography, C.S. Young Jr., Photography

Driving the backroads usually has a payoff for the adventurous, but patient photographer. This tobacco barn was a welcomed reward after a long dry spell traveling through rural Ashe Country, North Carolina last fall.

Cheers!

C. S.

Desert Juniper

Black And White Photography, C.S. Young Jr., Photography

I captured this stately old juniper in the Mangum Desert exhibit at the North Carolina Zoo, in Asheboro.

Cheers,

C. S.

Airport Cloudscape

Black And White Photography, C.S. Young Jr., Photography

I captured this dramatic cloudscape while visiting my commercial pilot brother-in-law, he had just dropped off a passenger at my local airport.

Cheers,

C. S.

Tracing Light

Black And White Photography, C.S. Young Jr., Photography

The light in this stairwell at the Moses H. Cone mansion on the Blue Ridge Parkway made me think about “ray tracing”. Its a computer animation rendering algorithm that simulates the path particles of light take from the source angle as they bounce off various surfaces. I’m also reminded of Bob Heist’s lesson in Basic Photography at Randolph Community College back in the early 80s – “the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence”.

Different Perspective

Black And White Photography, C.S. Young Jr., Photography

During my 2021 fall foliage expedition in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, I followed a trail down under this bridge on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s interesting to see the architectural features of the bridge integrated into the surrounding rocky mountainous landscape.

Northern View of Grandfather Mountain in October

Black And White Photography, C.S. Young Jr., Photography

This northerly view of Grandfather Mountain is from the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Linn Cove Viaduct, captured in mid October 2021. Click on the image for the best viewing experience.

C. S.

Impermanence

Black And White Photography, C.S. Young Jr., Photography

While I love the weathered textures, rust and other features of decay, photographing an abandoned old house can bring mixed feelings. There are melancholy thoughts of needless decline. Why was this home neglected and forgotten? But there is also an appreciation of the effort and sacrifice spent in building the home. Lives were lived here, perhaps a family’s, it was their home.

There is peace found in the acceptance of impermanence as part of the cycle of life. There is after all, beauty in decay.

Reclamation

Black And White Photography, C.S. Young Jr., Photography

The overgrown vegetation and patina on metal are both evidence of Mother Nature’s slow but persistent reclamation of the natural and man-made world. Our sense of order is often at odds with Hers. Will we regain our lost ability to live harmoniously before it’s too late?