Even though I very heavily focused on shooting black and white film, primarily, I did occasionally capture some subjects in color. These old dilapidated, wooden wagons were definitely the exception. The North Dakota landscape tends to have a limited color pallet out in the countryside. This is especially true in the winter months with the white snow, browns from soil and tall grass, and with everything covered by the big, blue sky. In the summer months you trade the whites for the deep, rich greens of the fields, and the bright pops of colors from the blooms of plants, but you also get some autumn colors as well. This was the condition I found where the “Wagons Rest.”
I almost missed discovering these two wagons, as they were hidden from the road by the tree line behind them. With the open plains of North Dakota, trees serve a very important purpose which may not be as important in other states. Trees there serve as a windbreak for the fields, to help protect the crops as they grow. They also serve as protection around houses from wind and storms. About the only place I saw trees naturally grow was along the shores of rivers or creeks. Everywhere else is open plains with tall grass and occasional valleys. This is why when driving along the highways I always kept a sharp eye on the tree lines, because many times they were concealing great photographic opportunities.
Farm life was very far removed from what I had been accustom to previously living in St.Louis, so finding objects like these I did not fully understand their purpose or specific use, especially at the time I captured this. Obviously, as a wagon they could served many purposes but I had later learned that wagons like these were used mostly for carrying manure to the fields. In modern times now we have much more advanced options for these tasks which don’t require livestock to pull they wagons, so that will give you some idea of how old these must be.
This was one of my earlier photos where I was still more in documenting my discoveries, than pushing my creative boundaries. However, I always liked to focus on good depth of field and the textures that subjects like the tall grass and the aged wood provide. The faded colors of the decay also offered good detail to the dimensions of the wagons, while the rusted metal offered a pop of color to offset the wood. This was another one of my photos I used to stare at and imagine the days when the wood was new.
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