Wednesday, May 02, 2012

The Wellfleet

Wellfleet, Massachusetts

More scanning. The Washington (Connecticut) Art Association is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. For a show in July they decided on the theme of a picture for each of those sixty years, from each year, by a member artist. They've asked me to be 2007. I rummaged around in a great many color digital captures from that year, which was particularly productive for some reason, but then realized that there was also this 7x17" panorama from Cape Cod's surviving drive-in theater. I think a 13x32" print of this will do nicely. (As always you can click on the image to get a somewhat larger view.) The conditions here were, a clear (and windy!) morning in late winter, no leaves yet on the trees, as the sun rose just enough to illuminate the screen and center building, leaving most of the unusual asphalt-paved and ramped field in deep shadow.

5 comments:

lyle said...

wonderful image. I have not seen this one. Have you made a platinum print of it?

Carl Weese said...

Thanks, Lyle. I haven't made a platinum print of it. It's sort of an orphan shot. I was on Cape Cod for a completely different purpose, but made this one addition to the drive-in theater project. I tend to print a related group of negatives all at once and this hasn't gotten into a session yet.

lyle said...

I know that it is sunrise, but the encroaching shadow to the white screen is a wonderful metaphor for the state of the drive-in theater industry (half empty view). OR, with digital tech conversions, maybe the new dawn (half full view).....the image has just a wonderful sense of space and time

Admin said...

What a great image! I can only imagine the level of detail the original negative holds.

Carl Weese said...

Timothy, thanks. Lyle, some theaters are managing. I've just been in touch with someone at the DeAnza chain (one of only two chains of drive-ins I've encountered, although it's not uncommon for someone to own a pair of theaters, or a combination of drive-in and hardtop) which has six theaters, five in California and one in Atlanta. He's said that they are going to be making the conversion to digital late this summer. Of course those are favorable locations with lots of potential traffic. It's the small drive-ins in rural areas, open only on weekends in season, where the cost of conversion is going to be a real hardship.