Rural Decay in Black & White
This early September day began as a search for Spring time colour and vibrancy, namely yellows, greens and blues throughout the canola fields near York, Western Australia, around 100km from Perth. If you are interested in taking a similar journey, which can be easily done as a day trip from Perth, read my Canola fields near York post.
Whilst exploring along the unsealed Boyercutty Road, I stumbled across the decaying remnants of a farm building that looked photographically promising. I had no idea what a hidden photographic gem this would turn out to be.
Derelict farm building outside of York, Western Australia. Fujifilm X100V, Wide conversion lens, circular polariser, ISO 320, 1/125s, f/11
No sooner had I snapped the vibrant shot of the building and its surrounds, and the sun promptly disappeared, as it was inclined to do regularly on this day. The light quickly changed to dull and flat, and remained so for over an hour. My mind immediately turned to visualisation of black and white images of the decaying infrastructure.
Strictly speaking you should never enter the crop fields, nor any property when exploring these regions as they are private farm lands. Permission should ideally be sought before doing so.
However in this case, it wasn’t a crop field, and there was an open gate that allowed one to enter the building. I decided to be cheeky and enter and respectfully explore what lay inside. I had no idea of the treasure trove of farm and domestic items that would lay inside, seemingly frozen in time and left to slowly succumb to the elements. The centre piece was a rather rusted, but otherwise seemingly intact refrigerator. More on this refrigerator later.
Frozen in time. Interior of derelict farm building with abandoned refrigerator. Fujifilm X100V, Wide conversion lens, ISO 640, 1/60s, f/8
Not long after entering, a gentleman arrived and approached me to inquire as to the nature of me being inside the property . He revealed himself as the owner of the property. Recognising that I had not obtained prior permission, and was likely about to be kicked out, I humbly apologised and explained I was taking photographs of this decaying example of rural life.
He seemed relieved that I was not there to steal anything or cause damage, and was most happy for me to continue photographing.
What then ensued was a delightful conversation where I learnt about the background and history of the building and property. He revealed that his parents obtained the property in 1952 and the building was used as a shearing shed. He said the shed already existed when they purchased the property, and could possibly date back to the 1940’s or 1930’s, or earlier.
The property owner went on to explain that before his parents acquired the property, the families of WA politicians Garnet Wood and Sir Charles Court (who later went on to be the premier of Western Australia) shared the property and house. Who would have thought that I had stumbled into an abandoned farm building once operated by figures of such historic importance to Western Australia?
The refrigerator turned out to be an “Imperial” branded Kerosene powered refrigerator. Some further research shows that these devices were first introduced into Australia in 1923, so this gives you idea of the potential age of this rustic piece of domestic history. Click on one of the images below to open gallery view.
The light was flat and dull, but to be honest the lower contrast made it easier to shoot the details and internals of the shed, without the harsh shadows. As mentioned earlier, I was already visualising black and white images to suit the light, as well as to add to the timeless nature of the objects. I was shooting in RAW +jpeg, with the Kodak Tri-x 400 film simulation from the Fuji X weekly website applied to the jpegs, which I feel the grain and mood suited the subject matter perfectly. Having the RAW files also means I can convert to colour later if I so choose.
I experimented with depth of field with larger apertures and/or getting close, as well as angles to create some extra drama and interest to the photos, such as bringing attention to texture and detail.
A section of removed floor from a derelict farm shed displaying the ravages of time. Fujifilm X100V, Wide conversion lens, ISO 800, 1/60s, f/8
What started as a day searching for bold colour of the Canola fields near York, Western Australia (and that was delivered), also yielded an unexpected number of strong black and white images of the details of a decaying farm shed, which had a great story to tell.
Rope and pulley in a derelict farm shed near York. Fujifilm X100V, Wide conversion lens, ISO 320, 1/340s, f/4
Remember to not enter a property without permission (which i did eventually obtain, although lesson learnt) and to leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but photographs.