For as long as I can remember holding a camera, I’ve been drawn to scenes that show disrepair and the passage of time — perhaps a level of brokenness or abandonment that speaks of good times long gone. I’m sure if I was able to find a Freudian analyst, he’d have a field day helping me figure out this attraction. Whatever. It leads to a compelling picture every once in a while.
Recent adventures in the Mobile Bay area of Alabama yielded quite a few opportunities to find scenes that are off-season — past their prime. I love the idea that there was a time of prosperity and now these places are in a new season — either a season of renewal, as this hundred year-old church under renovation and historic preservation, or one where the passage of time has rendered a property or home useless.
The church is pretty and quaint; this dilapidated home, however, calls to me. Who lived there? Why did they leave? What secrets are being reclaimed by the forest? It doesn’t just tell a story, it weaves a tale through the kudzu.
