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The grain elevator in Ralls, TX finally taught me why I take these photos
Last month I drove 40 minutes out to Ralls just to shoot an old grain elevator that's been sitting empty since 2009, and I almost turned around because the light was bad. I ended up staying two hours, and while I was shooting, a guy pulled up in a truck and said his dad ran that elevator for 22 years before it shut down. He walked me through the whole place, showed me where they weighed the trucks and the little office with the old ledgers still on the shelf. I realized I wasn't really there for the photos, I was there for the people who show up to talk about what used to happen in these buildings. Does anyone else end up talking to locals way longer than they planned when shooting spots like this?
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danielmartinez10d ago
The part about the old ledgers still on the shelf really got me. I read a piece a while back about how these abandoned spots are basically archives, and the buildings are only half the story, the rest lives in the people who worked them. That guy showing you where they weighed the trucks is worth more than any shot you could've framed that day. Two hours talking beats two hours shooting every time.
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