The Signpost Time Forgot

It's amazing what you stumble across by accident in the middle of the night. I was returning from a long night shooting road trip across the Western US when I decided to follow up on a lead about the ghost town of Dorothy in Southern Alberta. I arrived very late and looked over the location. It was certainly worth shooting but it was too far past the full moon to get the shot I wanted that night. I wandered back to the Starving Artist Van, satisfied that Dorothy would be on my list of locations to photograph in the near future. It was then that I saw this signpost. Weather-beaten and leaning crooked at the intersection of two deserted roads, it was like life and time had gone whirling by while the signpost just remained there neglected and forgotten, its faded and broken markers a metaphor for the vanishing small towns to which it points the way. It was around 3:00 AM and I really wanted to get home before daylight but I decided to set up and take this shot anyway. In retrospect, I'm glad I did. The spiral star trails were achieved by framing the North Star in the top of the shot and exposing the photo for ten minutes as the rest of the stars appear to rotate around it. Lighting on the post was done with a small flashlight in order to keep the grass and weeds below in shadow against the sky.

This is my first black and white night shot. Do you like it? Hate it?? Should I do more black and white work for the web site? Should I stick to the color stuff? E-mail me with your thoughts.

Special thanks go out to musician and music director Mike Shields for the tip on this location. I hope to shoot more here in the near future! Visit Mike's web site at www.mikeshields.com to hear samples from his excellent CDs and see clips of his work scoring music for film and television.