Centralia, PA: Monday morning

[John O'Connell]

I'll be heading out to Centralia, PA early Monday morning if anyone is interested---I should be there from 9AM or so until noon. The weather forecast is 40F and cloudy.

For those not in the know, Centralia is the site of a forty-year-old coal mine fire in NE Pennsylvania. It's a small, compact subject---less than ten buildings, some abandoned streets, a landfill, a cemetary, and a section of buckled highway. In the winter the mine fire sometimes creates massive plumes of smoke at the landfill that make for some unique photographs. I'm (slowly) working on a portfolio of Centralia.

If anyone is interested but can't make Monday, I plan on going back during the last week of December. In order to pique some interest, I've attached some rough scans from one of my trips.

[Toyon]

That place kind of smells funny. Better than paper mill towns though.

[eddie]

looks great. i can not make monday but maybe when you go in Dec you can give me the heads up.

eddie

[Bill_1856]

Been there. Considered it too dangerous for the scant visual reward. Do not go alone.

[Toyon]

Been there. Considered it too dangerous for the scant visual reward. Do not go alone.

Good point, better bring a carbon monoxide detector.

[John O'Connell]

Been there. Considered it too dangerous for the scant visual reward. Do not go alone.

The visual rewards are pretty scant if the conditions aren't right. The landfill usually looks fairly anticlimatic and road buckling is difficult to convey effectively because it's not extreme.

But on the right day, it looks like Ragnarok. Plus it's a well-known, well-covered subject of which most of the photographs are extremely boring--- in other words, a challenge.

When were you there, Bill?

[Bill_1856]

When were you there, Bill?
Probably more than 10 years ago, John. I remember standing along side the road and feeling my feet getting almost painfully hot THRU the thick rubber soles of my sneakers! And thinking that the ground could easily collapse right under me (there were places in the main roads where it had done so). I found it much more worthwhile (less stressful) to shoot many of the beautiful Orthodox churches in nearby communities.
Good luck.

[scowhismi]

The landfill usually looks fairly anticlimatic and road buckling is difficult to convey effectively because it's not extreme

[John O'Connell]

They were demolishing one of the houses near the landfill today. I ended up shooting/wasting a bunch of 8x10 film trying to "capture the action." Somehow I don't think I was stopping any action at f/22 and 1/30 of a second.

I also got some advice from an ex-local on when the extreme smoke conditions are prevalent---apparently I was wasting my time on a 40-degree day, as it's the cold that drives the smoke. I'll wait for a day in the low 20s for a return trip.