TJ McGovern
About the Image(s)
Castle Dome City is a reconstructed "ghost town" about halfway between Yuma and Quartzsite in Southwestern Arizona. It contains some original buildings and others moved in from elsewhere, arranged to make the town easy to tour. It is not an authentic model of the original mining town, but is interesting nevertheless to anyone interested in what the 1880s may have looked and felt like. I love touring these places, even while realizing that they are not necessarily 100% accurate representations of history, because I can immerse myself briefly in another era, and let my imagination loose to pretend I know what life was like then.
I had no intent here other than to depict this building, which was an actual church a long time ago. It should be noted that I have some very strong opinions about the art and the craft that are not necessarily mainstream, and one is that a picture need not "tell a story," and in fact is unlikely to do so in an image recorded in 1/60 of a second. If you wish to imagine churchgoers in their Sunday finery coming and going, a preacher with fire and brimstone in his sermon, and various wagons and buggies hitched up for this visit to town, be my guest. But none of that is here; there is only this image of an empty church from a bygone era. To really experience the "story," I would recommend going to Castle Dome City and spending a few hours.
Technical: Camera- Nikon D2X; Lens- Tamron SP 14mm f/2.8 prime; Exposure- shutter priority, ISO 100, F/13 @ 1/60 sec.
Shot in raw, post processed for tone, color and cropping in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
12 comments posted
I left the little bit of building next door on purpose as context, and to show that there was something for that diagonal boardwalk to lead to, even if you had to imagine what it was. I also thought the church looked better centered, and I left the big sky for precisely the reason you mentioned.
Thanks for commenting.
  Posted: 05/14/2022 20:51:05
Very well done. It does give the viewer the information they need to create their own story in their mind. I like that you gave me someplace to walk after church, with just a little of the other building. Well done.   Posted: 05/19/2022 08:37:44