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UltravioletPhotography

Miscellaneous Historic Buildings: Minnesota and Colorado


OlDoinyo

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Near the town of Miltona in Douglas County, Minnesota, I recently spotted a disused barn by the road. Using the Sigma SD14, the Steinheil Cassar-S 50mm, and the Baader U2 filter, I obtained this image, working it up via a sepia-monochrome treatment:

"Old Barn near Miltona"

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The picture attracted some unexpected (and positive) attention on Flickr. I am gratified.

 

On now to the high country of Colorado. The following images were taken with a Sony A900 at f/16, ISO 100, and a Baader U2 filter, and worked up with display intent BGR.

 

The town of Leadville has a number of more modern buildings on its southern outskirts, but also a few relic rustic structures from the mining heyday a century ago, such as this cabin near 3 km elevation, taken using the Asahi 35mm:

"Cabin near Stringtown"

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The image out of the camera was virtually monochromatic; I boosted the overall chrominance to bring out the few color features. There was also a strange issue with color cast blotching which I cannot explain, distinctly blue in some portions of the image and yellow-green in others, which seemed to have no direct relation to the subject matter. I did complete desaturations of blue and yellow to eliminate the worst of these artifacts; the rosy color on the ground at center left I believe to be another such blotch, but there was no easy way to remove it. The color of the door is real and suggests that it may have been painted as recently as the 1970s, though most of the paint is gone.

 

For the next image, also taken with the 35mm, I went to the old ghost town of Independence, located at 3,300 meters on the west side of Independence Pass. From 1879 to 1881, the Farwell Mill No. 2 was a 20-hammer stamping mill for a successful gold mine, The lode was exhausted soon thereafter, and the site was gradually abandoned. A fire destroyed the surrounding building in 1912, leaving only foundations and debris; most of the machinery was subsequently stripped for scrap. All that remains standing is the massive timber frame that supported the machinery, well-preserved in this subalpine environment with its cool,dry, short summers. I used incorrect white balance to take the exposure; recovering from this error was tricky and some residual color casts are evident. Other than the sky, the photo looks fairly monochromatic.

"Farwell Mill No. 2"

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Another ghost town, Ashcroft, at 2,865 meters in the Castle Creek valley was another one of the many ephemeral mining boom towns which sprang up toward the end of the 19th century in the Rockies. Silver was discovered in 1880, and a year or two later, the population surged to 2,000. The lode ran out shortly thereafter, and by 1885, more than 99% of the population had left, driven off by the lack of other employment, the isolation, and by the short growing season at this altitude which made winter provisioning difficult. The last original inhabitant died in 1939.The site has been preserved with the help of local historic enthusiasts. With the Steinheil:

"House with False Front"

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The false front on this cabin was added long after the town's abandonment, being placed there in 1955 when the site was used for filming the television series Sgt. Preston of the Yukon.

I did a chrominance boost here, too, as only the flowers showed any perceptible color in the raw image. Of interest are the slight apparent differences in color in the various foliage in the frame. I do not know the significance of this, but perhaps some of our more botanically inclined viewers can expound on the matter. The original cabin shows Link-n-Log corner joinery.

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  • 2 weeks later...
A Stranger In The Wind
Very nice, I always enjoy looking at old buildings. The last one is of most interest to me as I enjoy listing to old-time radio plays and really like Sgt. Preston of the Yukon.
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  • 2 years later...

Postscript: Lake County, Colorado, August 2018

 

Photos taken with the Sony A900 at ISO 100 and f/16 and Baader U2 filter.

 

"Ruin near Tennessee Pass." Steinheil 50

 

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"Shed at Twin Lakes." Asahi 35.

 

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