I invite you, the viewer, to look at the photographs to derive your own narrative before I give you the (my) story behind the series.

That said the Buffalo Hotel is a historic building in a small town (approx. 100,000 people) that is now boarded up and sitting idle. Thus the project title image, a window reflection from across the street, of the stores ‘open’ sign with the, closed, hotel is a juxtaposition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, thank you for taking the time to have gone through the series and please let me know your thoughts.... onto my write-up.

 

What I’ve attempted to do is take the viewer on a walk around several sides of the build. I’ve also attempted to take you through time, current to past, by finishing the images with the ‘look and feel’ of several time periods and color versus Black and White. Note, all the images are current day image; I do not do photo manipulations beyond exposure correction, color correction etc.

You start the tour with a present-day street view. I chose a day with flatter lighting to emphasize that the building has faded from glory and is being forgotten. The framing with the trees hints at past charm, romance and character; all of which still exist as the picture is of its current state.

The next picture plays with the glory and decay. The Rich Blue (sky) and Golden Yellow are colors of royalty meaning richness… in this case of heritage/history. This is reinforced by the angle of the shot. But if you look you can see the decay… the rust… broken light-bulbs

The 3rd shot helps to build some foundation/reference as we move down the street and it introduces the build as being a hotel. The importance of the building is again represented by having the signage dominate the frame. The sun flare is used symbolically like a ‘ray from heaven’ in religious imagery.

The fourth image is the most loosely connected in the series. I have not built the connection to this image from the prior images… but it is the next point of interest associated to the building as you would continue to walk. I attempted to show direction with the reflection in the window and I gave the photo a 70ish feel. I, selfishly, cropped it to 16x9 for a cinematic feel but it would be better at 16x10 so the sign brackets wouldn’t be clipped.

Five is the Coffee Sign again but this time I’m giving it more of a 50ish look and feel. The way of taking photos lets me introduce the metal fire escape on the outside of the building; which is important as I transition to the B&W.

From here we are at the far end of the walk and are going to be heading back to where we started. The coffee shop sign acts as the reference for the viewer. The B&W works to emphasize the, perceived, time period shown by the metal fire escape… this time you see the last section (ramp) controlled by a pulley which is all things of a bygone age.

This shot is just referencing that we are coming back around the corner. Not sure it’s necessary but it does, to me, build the direction we are traveling which you might not know otherwise.

The eighth image does two things… It’s our fist time looking at the scene from a ‘normal’ perspective. We’re heading down the street toward the signs as if we were walking to the hotel. It sets the context of where the building is in relation to its broader surroundings.

Next, we focus on the entrance… the HOTEL sign. I’m trying to give it the feel of a ‘grand entrance’ so I’m using the light bleed, filling the frame and strong contrast in part to distract from the decay (again these are all taken in current day). Side note: I did not use shoots of the actual entrance way because they were boarded up thus not part of the story at this time… the B&W represent Old which is when the building was newer and thus wouldn’t be boarded up.

The last image is a suggestion of the stature the building would have had when it began.   

 

I hope you've like the series and I always welcome feedback