I Married a Photographer

After writing my last blog entry, Dean and I began discussing the differences in one’s perspectives as a child v. an adult.  For instance, revisiting places from childhood and noting that the setting isn’t quite how you remember it.   Think of your  school play ground , specifically the sets of monkey bars  you played on when they were shiny with a fresh coat of paint. Now after years of weather beating down on them they are rusty, crusty, and much shorter than you remember.  Similarly, stepping into a tree house as an adult with barely enough room to turn around in. Once  inside, you think back on the days when you gathered with friends, made pacts and swore that it was as big as a  mansion.  There is a lot to be said for gaining knowledge,  but with that one loses the innocence and wonder of  being a child.

Dean setting up to take a shot of an old building in the middle of nowhere. The coal region has such a feeling of lonliness.

In the most recent blog entry, I  wrote about an experience that molded a younger me.  Our approach to the  Shamokin /West Cameron  area was a unique experience for me.  I wasn’t afraid of tables falling on me; I hoped to never relive that horrifying gym session with the cafeteria tables stacked high while children ran about (for full story refer to the previously posted blog entry).  Things were not how I remembered them -at least not exactly.  We drove around areas familiar to me, and not.  With each turn it was an adventure.  I returned to that nostalgic locale and what it meant to me; a step back in my life.  Yet as we explored , the majority of our findings were completely new and strange.

It amazes me that one can be in a specific area and not really see anything.  Hence, our fascination with the rediscovery of this particular area.  Both Dean and I spent a good portion of our lives in as a part of the coal region and now we are able to see and appreciate the life and culture it offers us. For Dean, it was going to High School  in Shamokin, but living outside the coal region. He would hear the stories of the other kids ‘going up on the mountain’ to party, or the multitude of stories about other well-known locations that he never got to see. Now things were becoming real and tangible to him.

Our adventure took us to what is commonly called the ‘Third Patch’ area just outside of Shamokin.  We ran across The Wash House going out of Shamokin, PA, up Market St. and out Rt 125. Past the Shamokin Filler and instead of following the highway to a sharp left (all less than 2 miles outside town I suppose) we took an unmaintained ice-covered road up the side of a coal hill. This was less than a half-mile up the hill I suppose.

That was the beginning for Dean, who was just enthralled at the history buried in these back trails.  He took out his Nikon D70 and began setting up to take several HDR (High Dynamic Range) photographs. Dean mentioned trying to capture the mix of beauty and grotesque; the myriad forgotten stories of lives that touched these locations.  Several of the shots, Dean used the normal 50mm lens while for dramatic effect he used the Sigma 10-20mm wide-angle.

If you’d like to view our images from out journeys they can be found at  Dean’s Flickr page

If any one reading this knows of any areas that would be great to photograph, please let us know.  In addition, if you have a vast untapped knowledge of the Coal region and can help us be historically more accurate, it would be appreciated!

Having a husband who is a photographer is a vastly interesting experience.  I have worked with photographers off and on for 10 years, met  a handful of them and have found that in more instances than not, they really are a rare breed.

Over the past few months, we have entertained ourselves with exploring the Coal Region; driving out there to find a hidden treasure or interview a resident who can point us in a new direction.  Over the Summer, we had the documentary approach to our new journeys, hoping to come across a park bench with a few people who would lend us ideas on how best to approach our findings (and sometimes name them).  Both Dean and I have memories of spending time in the Shamokin/Trevorton region from childhood and every time I visit, I am flooded with episodes and stories being replayed.

I attended a tiny elementary school in West Cameron, it now is some sort of community/lodge hall type thing now -in my opinion, is a total waste.  Our cafeteria, auditorium, music class and gym were the same room.  I remember during gym class, it  was very terrifying playing games like “Red Light, Green Light” and “What Time is it Mr. Fox” because when we had to sprint back to home base, we all headed full blast to the cafeteria tables, neatly folded up at the opposite end of the ‘gym’.  These tables that had the aqua blue stools attached and when not in use and folded, stood about 10’ high, they were like up-side-down Vs an the only thing touching the floor were wheels.  I’m sure there was a mechanism on them that locked them in the upright position but as a kid, I often thought of the dangers of playing under and around these.   And we were often warned by the teacher’s aides to not go near them. EVER!  One time, I remember one of my classmates was sprinting toward the tables and I  heard an ear piercing bang.  By the time I turned my 10 year old head to see, I caught the table on its bounce up from hitting the concrete floor once.  I needed no warning after that.  I wanted no part in doing anything with or near those tables.

Later, in life I had learned to not like the coal region for one reason or another. Honestly, no good reason.  Until I had to work out there. I was a nurse’s aide and had been working for an agency which placed me in various healthcare facilities all over the area.  I worked at the Shamokin Hospital with some of the nicest people I have ever met.  If I could remember their names, I’d give them all kudos, for getting me started in my current field.  Dean and I often talk about how that is the only area near us that has culture.  Defined more by living than the things one  area has.  Though, I don’t necessarily want to reside there, I find the people very entwined with their families and neighbors alike.  A lot of people and things get a ‘bad wrap’ here for how they live but I  notice that a number of the people who I have met from there are sincerely dear people.  Tight with family and religion interested in helping out a fellow human and still holding on to traditions that previous generations have set.

In our outings, Dean has done an number of things.  When he was learning how to take and process HDRs we made a trip out toward Shamokin; and in search of some interesting dilapidated architecture we found a gem in some old mining territory.