Photography, Communications & Me
Earlier this year, I unveiled my “Abandoned Americana” series, and No. 7 earned a spot in the “Voices of the Midwest” exhibit at the Fine Line Creative Arts Gallery in St. Charles, Ill. The exhibit runs now through Oct. 11. I also filmed a brief […]
Here’s another photo from the archives and one I’ve published in a few iterations of my website. Known as the “Ruinas del Faro de Guánica,” the abandoned Guánica lighthouse, pictured above, dates back to 1893. I’ve named this photo “Sentinel” in honor of Robustiano Rivera, […]
A police trailer sits inside the secure area and appears to offer video surveillance of the property. Even though it closed seven years ago, the area still feels recently abandoned.
The Dwight Correctional Center, which was also known as Oakdale Reformatory for Women and the Illinois Penitentiary for Women at Dwight, closed in 2013 after a round of state budget cuts. The facility first opened in 1930. Eaves, Chris (March 16, 2020). Abandoned Government No. 6 [Photograph]. […]
I featured this image back in March, and I’ve made a few incremental improvements on it since that time. The image shows the former power building for the Elgin State Hospital, which opened in 1872 as the Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane. […]
Approaching an open bunker is eerie. The sound from your feet collects in the bunker and bounces back at you like a giant megaphone. Thankfully nothing was living inside this one.
Some bunkers remain locked, while others have had their asbestos-laden doors removed or propped open. In 1942, one of the plants supplying the bunkers exploded. The blast was felt “for a radius of 100 miles.”(1) Despite the severity of the calamity, the other 11 production […]
Here’s the locked door to one of the ammunition bunkers at the former Joliet Arsenal. The nearly 400 bunkers were designed to contain an ordnance explosion, and the steel doors, like this one here, contain asbestos. Disassembly of each bunker costs approximately $50,000. As such, […]
For the next two weeks, I’ll release images in a short “Abandoned Government” series and offer a bit of history with each photo. Seen here is an ammunition bunker on the grounds of the former Joliet Arsenal. The arsenal opened in 1940, ceased production in the ‘70s, and closed for good in the ‘80s. Listed as a Superfund site, the property contained unexploded ordinance and other environmental hazards.
Thanks for following my “Abandoned Americana” series! Today’s image shows the beautiful rolling prairie and limestone gravel roads outside Dwight, Illinois.2 Eaves, Chris (March 16, 2020). Abandoned Americana No. 18 [Photograph]. Dwight, Ill. Shot on a Canon 6D at 35mm, 1/160 sec., f8 at ISO200.
As modern agribusiness continues its march over small farms, scenes such as this have become more common. Here you can see in the far distance the new standard structure: sheet-metal buildings. Eaves, Chris (March 21, 2020). Abandoned Americana No. 18 [Photograph]. Marengo, Ill. Shot on […]
Silos without tops litter countless backyards throughout the heartland. And sadly, fields of rotten soybeans, like the one behind this barn and silo, have been the recent result of trade policy gone amuck. Hopefully scenes like this won’t become the norm, as we rely on farmers now more than ever.
This barn and farmhouse sit on a rural corner road outside Marengo, Illinois. Everything on the property is shuttered, a sign of the changes that have happened to the farming community over the last two decades. Eaves, Chris (March 21, 2020). Abandoned Americana No. 16 […]
Swirling clouds and fractured reflections add to the mystique of this Wizard’s Tower. Eaves, Chris (March 21, 2020). Wizard’s Tower [Photograph]. Marengo Township, Ill. Shot on a Canon 6D at 16mm, 1/1000 sec., f8 at ISO200.
This little greenhouse/cloche and tool shed still sits behind where the main house had been.