rover's world

A Trip to Wal Mart

2007-04-14T07:40:00.000-04:00

A Walk Around Downtown Hartford

2007-03-27T20:24:00.000-04:00

With Whom do you Share a Birthday,

2007-03-02T17:15:00.000-05:00

...can you tell me who? Me you ask? Why Theodore Geisel that's who.

First Trip to Manhattan

2007-02-25T09:51:00.000-05:00

The Ride

2007-02-17T23:23:00.000-05:00

2007-01-20T09:46:00.000-05:00

Good Friends

2007-01-19T16:50:00.000-05:00

Peek-a-Boo

2006-11-08T12:03:00.000-05:00

Steam Train

2006-11-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

Now You See It....

2006-11-08T08:28:00.000-05:00

....Now You Don't

My Perspective

2006-09-05T18:50:00.000-04:00

What I am looking at, what I see.........

Old Sturbridge Village with Friends

2006-08-16T20:00:00.000-04:00

It seems so alive it is hard to call it a recreation. Old Sturbridge Village feels like home, comfortable and simple, a picture of New England life in the 1830s. From my prior entries you see that I have visited the village before. Most recently I enjoyed meeting some friends there, Sturbridge, MA proved to be a convenient meeting place for those of us who visit the Rangefinder Forum from southern New England. So, to Ray, Peter and Joerg, thank you, it was a fun day. For your viewing here is a fiddler, a tinsmith, a blacksmith and captain of men.

How Old Are They?

2006-06-25T16:09:00.000-04:00

What a series, well, at least I really like it. I am lost though, is this my son and niece or retired parents?

Minolta SRT 101 with MC 58/1.2

Jazz Up Close and Personal

2006-04-15T17:45:00.000-04:00

The Billy Cofrances Jazz Quartet with Nicole Pasterak. Taken with a Leica M3 and Canon 50/1.4 lens on Tri X at 1600 in Diafine.

Mansfield Training School 2005, Photos from my Return Visit

2006-03-01T05:34:00.000-05:00

In my November 10, 2005 posts to rover's world I presented a photo project I had taken on at the closed Mansfield Training School. Walking around the MTS campus continues to demonstrate the conflict of what is, what was and what could be. Such beautiful buildings in a gorgeous setting of New England's rolling hills, with such a questionable past, neglected, left to deteriorate over time.

I returned in 2005. Many of the doors that I found open in 2004 are now closed. The chains and Keep Out signs are chilling symbols. What is hidden inside must reflect the indifference and neglect that is so prominently displayed by the continued presence of this centrifuge on the hospital building's porch.

The fading Handicap Entrance sign is a symbol too. As our attitudes and the way we care for those who need our assistance changes perhaps the mistakes that were made at the MTS will fade as memories and this campus can be reborn into something which can match its historic stature.

Mansfield Training School 2005, Photos from my Return Visit

2006-03-01T05:30:00.000-05:00

Mansfield Training School 2005, Photos from my Return Visit

2006-03-01T05:25:00.000-05:00

The Blacksmith

2006-02-06T20:38:00.000-05:00

A craftsman at Mystic Seaport

Old Sturbridge Village

2006-02-05T06:02:00.000-05:00

The 50's

2006-02-05T05:59:00.000-05:00

Neglect

2005-11-10T05:51:00.000-05:00

Not long after arriving in Storrs as a student of the Univ. of Connecticut I learned of the other campus in Mansfield 3 miles away, the Mansfield Training School run by the state’s Department of Mental Retardation. Ironically, set in a more rustic landscape and made up of scores of marvelously designed buildings, it is the MTS that seemed much grander. It is in fact today listed on the National Registry of Historic Places recognizing its architecture and engineering.

http://www.nationalregisterofhistor.../districts.html

This was 1984, and not much time passed before I became aware of the lawsuit challenging the state’s care of its mentally retarded residents in institutions, specifically the care provided at the MTS. Those lawsuits lead ultimately to the complete closure of this facility in 1993.

I have often had the opportunity to walk on the MTS campus, and have done so captivated by historic atmosphere that prevails there. I walk with thoughts of those who had lived and were cared for there, and have also attempted to research some of that history. The internet is full of information containing references to the MTS. Founded and built to provide treatment in the 19th century institutional manner, it was just a matter of time until our society matured and gained the knowledge to better care for the developmentally disabled.

In November of 2004 I took my camera to the MTS in an attempt to capture it as it stands today. The core group of buildings still stands, trapped between historic significance and strained state budgets. As a result, it appears that they have been left in neglect. Space is used for storage of items from the state and its sister campus across town. There has been some refurbishment and new construction of building around this center of campus. The MTS is now the home of some of the facilities operations for UConn, a minimum security prison and a number of community group homes run for the care of the developmentally disabled. My focus though was on the physical condition of the buildings and the images presented by the large institutional structures, the broken windows, locked doors, crumbling mortar, falling bricks, the copper and cast iron fixtures. I wanted to see the little bits of the campus that tell the story of the whole. Among the decay I often found beauty, the patterns of vines claiming the facades, the mosaic of chipped paint on a fire hydrant, the twisted rusted railings all have become something new and unique from their pasts.

In doing my research I also have found that I am not the only person poking around this campus. There are many open doors and broken windows in these buildings. I found the work of another photographer who has crossed threshold of these doors, past the line that I feel is trespassing, and has posted pictures from the inside of some of the buildings.

http://www.livejournal.com/communit...uin/260286.html

After my final photography trip to MTS in 2004 I stopped at the store today to buy some peas for my son. I ran in, grabbed two bags with the Jolly Green Giant on them and headed to the register. I realized immediately that the young man who asked me if I wanted a paper or plastic bag was developmentally disabled. I then became aware that there also were a number of counselors escorting their clients around the store helping them do the shopping for their homes. I couldn’t help to think that if this was during the height of the MTS my bagger and his peers would be living a structured life with little contact in the community in which they lived. As I walked out, when he smiled and wished me a good day, I knew he was in a much better place. I smiled back, and said “Thank you, you too.”

On November 5, 2005 I returned to the Mansfield Training School to see what, if anything had changed. The answer is not much. Many of the broken windows and open doors have been boarded up. There is more damage to the facilities, sidewalks heaved open revealing the power and service tunnels below. But no action has been taken slow the harmful effects of time. I will process the film I shot and add more images to add to the story of the MTS in 2005 in short time.

Mansfield Training School, 2004

2005-11-10T05:47:00.000-05:00

Mansfield Training School, 2004

2005-11-10T05:34:00.000-05:00

just hanging out with the boy

2005-10-30T07:53:00.000-05:00

Pam has been in Florida this week on business, so, it has been just me and the boy. We didn't do all of these things this week, but we had lots of fun, and I like when he has fun.

Team clown
Hi Penguin
A card even on a whale watch
The Jedi's Starfighter
And just slumming with Calvin

Black & White Photography

2005-10-22T07:11:00.000-04:00

I have started to process my own B&W film after previously doing it briefly when I was in high school. What a simple, and for me, fun process. I have been enjoying photography more and more and developing a "Darkroom" process which can work for me is an important goal. Step one is the use of manual film cameras, I shoot now mostly with Leica rangefinders and Minolta SRTs. I feel using a manual camera gets me involved in the exposure and makes me more a part of the "capture." Taking the film home and souping it in Diafine or D76 is step two and an extension of control I have over my hobby.

Part four, yes I have skipped three, I think is image editing. I made a big jump this week, I purchased Adobe CS2. I just completed a Digital Black & White Photography class at the local community college and took advantage of Pam's enrollment as a graduate student to buy an educational version of the software. I now have more capability than I think I will ever know how to use, but hey, that is a good thing. I have a long learning curve ahead of me, but I will climb that curve as an Adjustment Layer so that if I screw up I will always be able to delete it and start over without ruining my image.

So what was part three? Getting my images into Photoshop. Right now I have an Epson flatbed scanner which does a very good job making good quality scans for storage as digital files. My next move, down the road a little bit, will be a dedicated film scanner. I scanned all these images in class on a Nikon 4000 which does a good job, but I would like to see what the other scanners are like, I don't know that I liked the Nikon process that much.

The last step will be printing. For smaller prints I think I will look to get a photo printer, but I don't know if it will meet my expectations. I honestly don't think I will every build a darkroom and make my own prints, so what other choices do I have. One that looks very promising is the use of an online printer. I will be looking over the services of White House Custom Colour (http://www.whcc.com/) as a printer for the images I deem as "good." I think I am very comfortable right now storing and viewing my photographs on the computer, or as a digital slide show. Having the availability of a quality lab who can provide me with prints of my best shots I think will do the trick.

A Weekend on the Maine Coast

2005-10-15T05:24:00.000-04:00

Labor Day weekend brought a trip to the coves, harbors and relaxing shores of Boothbay Harbor Maine.

Every boy needs a ....

2005-10-09T12:27:00.000-04:00

... dog, and every dog needs a best friend. Molly has slowed down as she has gotten older, but Sammy has learned how to be gentle too. They both have a healthy appetite for play, and rest. It is fun to see them together.

Little Boy in a Big World

2005-10-02T06:48:00.000-04:00

When he was three weeks old, I held him, looked into his eyes and knew, at that moment, he was seeing me clearly for the first time. That day my vision also changed, allowing me to re-explore the world, for the first time again. He still is a little boy in a big world, but we are discovering more and more each day, together, through his eyes.