The Built and the Abandoned: A look at the changing landscape
I have been a naturalist since 2016 as a volunteer for the state. I spent a lot of time watching bird migrations and monitoring window strikes. Monitoring window strikes on my own at Tarrant County College South Campus, Northeast Campus, and Southeast Campus was vital to understanding the changes of our land structures. I took on this project at UTA my junior year. Taking on an internship with Texas Conservation Alliance was also very helpful to this process of understanding the changing landscape. I have been doing naturalist work since 2016 and seeing all the changes happening set this project forward. Exploring the left behind, abandoned, failed projects. Oil rigs which cause problems with fracking and various other issues. Seeing chain linked fences blocking off areas not yet developed. Seeing nature lost due to expansionism, human error, and greed. It opened up a way to explore the changing environment and to explore how one can find ways to help nature coexist with people. This is an ongoing project. The bulk of the work started at UTA in my Advanced Photography class. This project does incorporate images from my Black-and-White Class, and my own editions I have taken outside the classroom. This is one of my first major bodies of work that I have found to be outside my norm that I want to add on in terms of conservation and education. This is a lament but also a call to action and a call to gain wisdom and understanding. A lesson in conservation we can all understand.
“Machine by the Railway”
A large piece of equipment by the railway of another scene around Downtown Arlington. You can see a lone airplane, birds on a wire, showing a stacked image of human development. The juxpostion of the plane taking flight and the birds sitting on the powerlines. A chaotic image that is right in your face. There is an added study of line and some primary color being added into the mix.
11x7 Digital Print, Downtown Arlington TX, Fall 2023
“Up From the Depths”
A Housing Development that is one of many in the last few years that has popped up in recent years. Here a large mound of soil, churned up sediment, and large chunks in front of newly constructed houses in progress.
Seven houses can be seen looking as they are coming up from the ground, you can see a port-o-potty and a work truck as well; adding to the unsightly scene. Some of the homes look complete but one still has it’s Tyvek.
11x17 Digital Print, Arlington TX, Fall 2023
“Ghost Net”
A haunting image of the abandoned. Here we see a decaying batting cage net on a wet and rainy day. This image was taken in Downtown Arlington near an abandoned mini-golf course. This is not too far from Six Flags Over Texas. A chilling sight of the batting cage as if it was a tattered sail from a ghost ship’s empty lifeless hulk. A ghost net waiting to snag innocent birds upon their migration.
11x7 Digital Photo Print, Downtown Arlington TX, Fall 2023
“Overgrown Overtaken”
This image depicts an overgrown abandoned pumpstation. This happens to be at a favorite birding site. We see here a series of pipes, a large fixture with graffiti, and a few other components to the old pump. This is at the Village Creek Drying Beds and place that has become a birders paradise.
This is where nature has been allowed to reclaim her thrown and begin life anew. Yet, man kind’s scarring of the land can never be fully erased. This is another chaotic image showing the tussle between mother nature’s provision for her creatures and mankind’s artificial water treatment.
11x7 Digital Print, Village Creek Drying Beds, Fort Worth TX, Fall 2023.
“The Horses of Oil”
As a child I always seen these oil pumps to have a horse like shape. Almost synonymous with the west. Oil, Horses, Outlaws, and dusty towns seem to be the way some see Texas. These pumps are just a couple they have around Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge. This is a story of coexistence but also the concern for natural habitat protections from spills. The oil pumps loom large in this image as you see two hulking forms of steel. This is another image I took in my Black-and-white class at UTA. This image and the previous one work in tandem as they both show the same thing; in two different ways.
8x11 print, 2023, Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, Grayson County TX.
“OH FRACK!”
A black and white image I took back in my black and white course at University of Texas at Arlington. The title; a nod to one of my favorite Sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica (1978 version) This is an pump station in the area I live in the DFW area. This is also part of my built environment but not from the color photographs segments. However, it does fit nicely into this arrangement as it does show the the edition of the highway being built along I-20. You see a construction site being set up to begin work.
Black and White image 8x11 Print, Arlington TX, 2023
