Blanket Loom . . .

[RJSorensen]

This is a photograph of an old blanket loom. Up until the last few years it was in operation sixteen hours a day and employing several people in the different trades. Now it is stone silent . . . a victim of the NAFTA agreement. Genuine Indian Blankets can be made cheeper somewhere else, perhaps even in China. Sorry to bring the sad news that the Indians stopped making their own blankest over a hundred years ago.

This is taken with a Canon 20D with the EFS 17-85 lens, @ 85mm, 1/60 of a second, ISO 400 and f/5.6. The onboard flash provided some front fill. I was not suppose to be here and the 550 EX was out in the truck. I like Industrial things and the colors, shapes, textures and smells only they have.

Your thoughts and or comments are welcome and requested please.

Blanket Loom . . . (http://www.pcu.net/web/sorensen/rj/blanket_loom.jpg)

Blanket Loom . . . (http://www.pcu.net/web/sorensen/rj/Blanket_Loom_bw.jpg) In Black & White.

[Maureen Souza]

Are you sneaking into forbidden territory, RL:) It is sad to think this cool loom is out of commission but this is another amazing shot with great compostion, color and lighting. You are going to have put all these in a book someday, I think.

Maureen

[neil_r]

A wonderful picture. It even made me Google NAFTA so I now know more than I did before I looked at it.

Many thanks

N

[Rob Beltman]

I tend to agree about the picture's color (green-brown), but the composition troubles me a little bit.

I think it's the plethora of lines that hinders the readibility of the image. the red pilar especially throughs off the eyes, as do the windows in the background.

Story is nice though, and makes me wonder if out of pure nostalgia, you wouldn't think of switching to black and white.

Rob

[RJSorensen]

Thank You Maureen, Neil & Rob . . . as suggested I placed an B&W version in the above link. I learned to shoot 35mm film in B&W so I suppose it is not new to me. But much like the color TV we got about the same time, it was hard to go back. Perhaps that is the avoidance I subconsciously have for it.

Blanket Loom . . . (http://www.pcu.net/web/sorensen/rj/Blanket_Loom_bw.jpg) In Black & White.

[Maureen Souza]

I disagree with Rob... that little pop of red is really not a hindrance to my eyes as it helps make a definition of the green loom. While the windows are a bit of an annoyance, there is nothing you can do about them because you need the whole edge of the loom to be visible. The B&W conversion loses too much of the character of the picture.... Keep the color one.

[RJSorensen]

I am sure the 'red' post is a OSHA fire extinguisher location requirement, and was not there in the beginning. Most likely painted sometime after 1975 or so. See them darn safety regulation even screw up photographs . . . but save fingers and buildings.

I am a sucker for that industrial green . . . but willing to try different things and learn along the way. That is why I came over to this section.

Thanks to all for the suggestions and such.

[Rob Beltman]

I must say I do like the B+W image better. Ofcourse it lacks the nice 'industrial green' touch, but it's readability has increased considerably, in my eyes. But that's what it is: in my eyes.... I sure understand other people like the other version better.

[MarkoPolo]

Nice photo, RJ. I would usually prefer color over black and white, but not this time. It seems the plethors a lines is not so distracting.