Americana

[Don Dudenbostel]

Since there's an Americana thread in LF let's do a smaller format version.

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The peanut stand was shot in 1999 but the others date from the 70's and were 35mm shot with my Leica system.

[Don Dudenbostel]

A couple more from the 70's. The tattoo and boys are from Petros TN near the TN maximum security prison where James Earl Ray was housed. For those that don't know the name he killed Martin Luther King. The children were shot in a remote Mennonite colony in Tennessee again in the 70's. Again Leica M gear and a variety of lenses except the square image which was with my Rollei SL66 and 150 Sonnar. Film would have been TX most likely.

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[Don Dudenbostel]

A few more. The first image of the girl was from 1069 shot with an M2 Leica and 90 Elmarit and the film was TX. The mill and office were with my Technika 70 and 100 Planar and 53 f4 Super Angulon. The film would have been panatomic-X. The final image of the boys was shot with my Rolleiflex MX-EVS 2 and from the mid 70's.


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[Don Dudenbostel]

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Here are a few images from the carnival in the md 70’s. Shot with Leica M2 and a variety of Leica glass on TX.

[Don Dudenbostel]

Here are a few more images from the early 70's.

[Rick Rycroft]

Canadiana?

194898

[tonyowen]

194911

25th July 1978 - Gay Parade San Francisco
Digital image of framed print from image taken with Leica M3, 50mm f2.8 Elmar

regards
Tony

[jim_jm]

Storefront in Randsburg, CA (Mojave Desert), taken about 10 years ago. Bronica SQ-A, 80mm lens.

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[tonyowen]

Canadiana?]

Given that geographically 'America' stretches from the high arctic to Tierra del Fuego, then Canadian images are included

regards

Tony [Canadian citizen abroad]

[Jac@stafford.net]

Given that geographically 'America' stretches from the high arctic to Tierra del Fuego, then Canadian images are included]

Oh ya big kidder. Americana refers strictly to the USA. Canadians, I tell ya. :)

[tonyowen]

Oh ya big kidder. Americana refers strictly to the USA. )

Jac, not wishing to be pedantic, but are you being a bit parochial. For instance, are you limiting yourself to the lower 48 or do you include Alaska and Hawaii?
Americana is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a genre of music having its roots in the early folk music of America.
Where America is defined as:
1 either continent (North America or South America) of the western hemisphere
2 or the Americas \ the lands of the western hemisphere including North, Central, and South America and the West Indies
3 United States of America
Regards
Tony

[Jac@stafford.net]

Jac, not wishing to be pedantic, but are you being a bit parochial. For instance, are you limiting yourself to the lower 48 or do you include Alaska and Hawaii?
Americana is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a genre of music having its roots in the early folk music of America.
Where America is defined as:
1 either continent (North America or South America) of the western hemisphere
2 or the Americas \ the lands of the western hemisphere including North, Central, and South America and the West Indies
3 United States of America
Regards
Tony

That's one tightly focused definition pivoting about music. Irrelevant here. We know Americana when we see it.

[Don Dudenbostel]

We can expand it to "North Americana".

[Don Dudenbostel]

A few more images from the hear of coal mining country in the Cumberland Mountains of East TN.

[Don Dudenbostel]

Can we consider people as americana especially if they contributed to American music. Anyway here are some of the legends of American bluegrass, Bill Monroe, Lester Flat, Ralph Stanley and Don Reno. Not the best scans but they'll do. I would have made these around 1973.

[Don Dudenbostel]

Here's 4 more images form the past. Again in the early 70's except for the junk yard which was around 2003.

[Reinhold Schable]

. . Bargain Barn & Pawn. Idaho
https://live.staticflickr.com/938/40675537415_2a27ba957b_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/24YmLae). . Bargain Barn & Pawn. Idaho (https://flic.kr/p/24YmLae) by Reinhold S. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/154287991@N05/), on Flickr. . Neg# BUCO 094. Mamiya RB67, 90mm lens, YG filter, TMX film. 1989

More samples here... https://www.flickr.com/photos/154287991@N05/albums/72157704578190405

Reinhold

[John Kasaian]

Jac, not wishing to be pedantic, but are you being a bit parochial. For instance, are you limiting yourself to the lower 48 or do you include Alaska and Hawaii?
Americana is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a genre of music having its roots in the early folk music of America.
Where America is defined as:
1 either continent (North America or South America) of the western hemisphere
2 or the Americas \ the lands of the western hemisphere including North, Central, and South America and the West Indies
3 United States of America
Regards
Tony

An interesting linguistic problem!
Take Americana to be a shortened United States of Americana, and the problem goes away as it references a Geo-political area.
This would also bring parity with terms such as Canadiana and Mexicana, if such terms even exist (and I think they should!)
Taking Americana to be a shortened North Americana expands the subject to such a greater geographical territory that the OP's defining of a Geo-political interest would be easily lost.

[neil poulsen]

A couple more from the 70's. The tattoo and boys are from Petros TN near the TN maximum security prison where James Earl Ray was housed. For those that don't know the name he killed Martin Luther King. The children were shot in a remote Mennonite colony in Tennessee again in the 70's. Again Leica M gear and a variety of lenses except the square image which was with my Rollei SL66 and 150 Sonnar. Film would have been TX most likely.

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I like these photos; they reveal a culture that's unfamiliar to me. I think that these and others warrant publication in a photographic essay or book.

[Louis Pacilla]

I like these photos; they reveal a culture that's unfamiliar to me. I think that these and others warrant publication in a photographic essay or book.

I TOTALLY agree!

[goamules]

I had missed your photos somehow, and just found them. Greatness, it's the America I remember from my youth.

[Reinhold Schable]

. . Coca Cola 10¢ at Taylors Drug.......Rural Polk County, Oregon
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49302003098_4a493af0cd_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2i7DDSb). . Coca Cola. 10¢ (https://flic.kr/p/2i7DDSb) by Reinhold S. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/154287991@N05/), on Flickr. .Neg# FArm 035. Mamiya RB67, 180mm Yg filter, PXP film. 1980

[Willie]

That's one tightly focused definition pivoting about music. Irrelevant here. We know Americana when we see it.

You guys would complain and argue over which is better - a Bagpipe or Accordion Zydeco band.

[Ari]

Jac, not wishing to be pedantic, but are you being a bit parochial. For instance, are you limiting yourself to the lower 48 or do you include Alaska and Hawaii?
Americana is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a genre of music having its roots in the early folk music of America.
Where America is defined as:
1 either continent (North America or South America) of the western hemisphere
2 or the Americas \ the lands of the western hemisphere including North, Central, and South America and the West Indies
3 United States of America
Regards
Tony
Dictionary definition is one thing, how people perceive and use the word is another.
"Americana" conjures images in my mind that are unrelated to the North/South American continent, and have everything to do with the specific culture of the US, at a particular point in time. My version of it encompasses 1935-1975.
And as you said, the term also loosely defines a broad range of music that is still being written and performed to this day, having evolved from several branches of American country music.
Canadiana or Mexicana might be somehow related, but neither term carries the weight of the original. For me, at least.

[Reinhold Schable]

Back On Track...
. . A child's seat on a bicycle outside a tavern door... ? This is Montana, remember...
https://live.staticflickr.com/4738/38654426324_0a4bc45391_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/21TL3fh). . Chester, Montana (https://flic.kr/p/21TL3fh) by Reinhold S. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/154287991@N05/), on Flickr. . Neg # BUCO 052. Mamiya RB67. 180mm, YG filter, PXP film

Plenty more here... https://www.flickr.com/photos/154287991@N05/albums/72157689648087134/with/38654426324/

Reinhold

[Don Dudenbostel]

Love the roadside tourist stops. Unfortunately this caught fire several years ago and is now gone.

[Reinhold Schable]

. . Dog World. Hot Dog Drive-in. South Beloit, Illinois.
https://live.staticflickr.com/4828/45355863035_4bbf3cc2ff_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2c6WDUx). . South Beloit, Illinois (https://flic.kr/p/2c6WDUx) by Reinhold S. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/154287991@N05/), on Flickr. . Neg# BUCO 442. Mamiya RB67, 180mm, Yg filter, FP4 film. 2003

[tgtaylor]

Associated Oil Station (1927)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51438456220_daf0b3e88a_z.jpg

Restored and moved to History Park in San Jose. For a little history on Associated Oil Company (1901) see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Oil_Company

Pentax 645N.

Thomas

[Drew Wiley]

Resemble the pumps at my hometown, at least until those pumps and most of the little town itself outright blew up when a logging truck swerved wide and hit the pumps. Same kind of pumps as at the Bodie restoration too.

[sanking]

I like these photos; they reveal a culture that's unfamiliar to me. I think that these and others warrant publication in a photographic essay or book.

I also like the photos a lot, wish I had done more of this kind of work in the 60s and 70s.

You make a good point about the culture. Many regions in the United States have unique cultures that differentiate highly from the norm in many respects, and southern Appalachia is certainly one of them.

Sandy

[CreationBear]

southern Appalachia is certainly one of them.


I'm not sure anybody can match the breadth of LFPF member (and thread starter :)) Don Dudenbostel's work in that regard--I suspect it would make a great archival project that would be of use to people in any number of fields.

[Don Dudenbostel]

Time to post a few more images from the late 60's to early 80's.

[Vaughn]

Space Age Lodge, Gils Bend, AZ
A few decades ago
Rolleiflex using Kodak 160VC Portra probably.
7"x7" image on RA4 paper.

As (US)American as it gets...

[Don Dudenbostel]

I love these old grocery stores and gas stations. Sadly this one burned a few years ago. It was located in Kodak Tennessee.

[Tin Can]

I ran a Montana Charlie Gas Station from the 20's, in the 70's

We pulled out an entire Railroad Oil Tanker with wheels used for in ground gas tank

The tracks were very close

A good customer filled up his Model T pickup once a week

I never took a picture, nor did anybody else, as I have searched, recently, again...

[MultiFormat Shooter]

Space Age Lodge, Gils Bend, AZ
A few decades ago
Rolleiflex using Kodak 160VC Portra probably.
7"x7" image on RA4 paper.

There's something about the mid-century vibe, that always attracts me, and I like the colors this image, too.

[6X17 Shooter]

Gas station in Decatur, Texas. Local lore is that Bonnie and Clyde spent a few days in the attached cabins about two weeks before they met their demise in Louisiana.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Texas-Roadside/i-Xdn6fk9/0/31e60647/X2/Petrified-004B%20copy-X2.jpg

[Tin Can]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51561977489_d46f3e9d91_c.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/gp/tincancollege/8Z6TPU)A Fire! (https://www.flickr.com/gp/tincancollege/8Z6TPU) by TIN CAN COLLEGE (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr

[tgtaylor]

A protest in Oakland, CA:


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51833952762_34da5ca8fa_o.jpg

Thomas

[tgtaylor]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51840848132_c9fc35ecef_o.jpg

https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/Concern-over-Castro-Theatre-continues-16800536.php

[Richard Wasserman]

Snoopy

[Michael Graves]

Ice cream and snacks shop in Morrisville, Vermont. Circa 2014. 5x7 Ilford HP5 in HC-110.

[Don Dudenbostel]

224870224869224868224867Been a while since posting images.

[FrancisR]

Nice photos

[Don Dudenbostel]

This is certainly a change of pace for me to shoot digital color but I thought these were about as Americana as you'll find. I finally retired after nearly 55 years of commercial photography and my wife and I took a 5009 mile trip in our Mini Cooper along Route 66 through Oklahoma, New Mexico and into Arizona. What a great trip!

[Don Dudenbostel]

A few more Route 66 images.

[Bernice Loui]

"Only in America"
Book published by David Graham:

https://davidgrahamphotography.com/books/only-in-america/

[Don Dudenbostel]

"Only in America"
Book published by David Graham:

https://davidgrahamphotography.com/books/only-in-america/

Thanks! I just ordered the last copy Amazon had.

[Don Dudenbostel]

A few more color Americana shots.

[djdister]

Here's an Americana two-fer. I shot this at Granny's Motel and Restaurant in Frackville, PA, and sent several shots to Bill Griffith, the creator of Zippy the Pinhead, who used a couple of the shots as the basis for one of his ZtP strips in 2004. In my email, I mentioned that the figures seemed a bit creepy, so he titled it "Fear and Baking in Pennsylvania."

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[Don Dudenbostel]

I was digging through the files today and found a bunch more images. Many more to come.

[Don Dudenbostel]

And a few more.

[ericantonio]

Absolutely love these Don!!!

[Don Dudenbostel]

Absolutely love these Don!!!
Thanks Eric!

The barbershop goes back to the late 60’s to early 70’s in the old part of downtown Knoxville TN. The country store, Blue & White, is still there but closed years ago. The Jesus cutouts are about 10 miles down the road from the Blue & White. It’s in a pretty remote part of the coal mining country of the Cumberland Mountains above Petros TN where Brushy Mountain Prison is. It’s where James Earl Ray was housed and escaped but caught soon after. The prison is closed now but its a tourist attraction and distillery. Coal and the prison were the economy there but the community is banking on the Brushy Mountain tourist attractions to save them. The problem is it’s really remote, probably thirty miles or more from interstate 40 and you have to go through some pretty wild country to get there. I’m from here and I’m cautious about going in that area.

The pano shots in the first group were with a Fuji 617 I just sold and are in a little town, Philadelphia TN, about thirty minutes south of me. Some of the buildings blew down in a wind storm a few years ago and a volunteer fire department stands in their place.

The old guys were with my 5x7 Deardorff and 115 Grandagon and shot 7 rears ago. It’s an old flour and corn mill from around 1900 and still has all the equipment in it but it’s used now as a small engine repair shop. I love how the old guys hang out on the porch. It’s so typical of the old south.

The last pano was shot in an xpan probably ten years ago near Savannah Ga. These were the workers houses for a Victorian era cotton mill. Part of the abandon mill can be seen at the end of the road.

[Don Dudenbostel]

From a Sunday afternoon drive around the county where I live. I’ve lived around this area for 71 years and still find great subjects.

[Don Dudenbostel]

Here are a few more from Appalachia.

[Don Dudenbostel]

And a few more.

The person in the third photo from the left was born in a log cabin in Cades Cove which is now part of the Smoky Mountain National Park. Lendall carves little figures out of peach seeds with a worn out Case pocket knife.

[Don Dudenbostel]

And 4 more from Petros Tn where Brushy Mountain Prison was located. These are from 1973.

[Don Dudenbostel]

How about a few more color shots.

[Alan Curtis]

Don
What an amazing collection of rural America. Thank you for sharing them with us. They are terrific . Nothing says rural America better that mobile homes parked under a water tower.

[Martin Aislabie]

And a few more.

The person in the third photo from the left was born in a log cabin in Cades Cove which is now part of the Smoky Mountain National Park. Lendall carves little figures out of peach seeds with a worn out Case pocket knife.

Isn't the first one Dumbledore from the Harry Potter films ?

Martin

[Don Dudenbostel]

Funny! No his name is Lendal Abbott.

[Don Dudenbostel]

This building is near where I grew up in Knoxville TN and was built in the 30's as a gas station. I made this image in the 70's along with several other images that I'm still looking for. It's known as the "Airplane Gas Station" and originally had a propeller that rotted on the front. The building was abandon in the late 70's and deteriorated until a group became interested in restoring it in the 10's. It's now fully restored down to the propeller and cylinder gas pumps from the 30's.

[Don Dudenbostel]

Here are a couple of shots from around where I live. The yard art image and the cylinder pump are strange scan or might be the negs not sure. The tones are odd but I thought I’d post anyway.

[Jim Noel]

I had forgotten about Sterchi's. Memories from childhood.

[Don Dudenbostel]

Scanned from a print and don’t think it’s as good as going straight from the neg so my apology.

Shot on a backroad in northern Georgia.

[Don Dudenbostel]

Always looking for interesting people and places. While traveling back to Tennessee from Nebraska a bridge between Missouri and the tip of Illinois was closed for repairs so we had to reroute through Cairo IL. Just as you cross into IL an abandon restraint was there and begging to be photographed.

[Don Dudenbostel]

A few images spanning nearly fifty years since they were shot.

[Michael E]

begging to be photographed.

That is the correct term. Well seen and well done.

[Martin Aislabie]

A few images spanning nearly fifty years since they were shot.

Shot 7 is very Walker Evans - IMHO

Which is very high praise from me.

Martin

[Don Dudenbostel]

Shot 7 is very Walker Evans - IMHO

Which is very high praise from me.

Martin

Thanks Michael and Martin!

Iv’e admired Walker Evans’ work along with other FSA photographers since the early 70’s. Thank you for your comments.

Photo 7 is Hank Greenways store just a few minutes from my house. I shot the image in 1976 but unfortunately the store was closed a few years later. The store still stands and the owner has kept it from decay but it doubtful that it will ever reopen. I’ll post others from the store soon. Here are two I think I posted earlier in the thread but no harm in posting them again. The gentleman on the counter was the retired sheriff and the man standing is Hank Greenway the owner. Honk was the highway commissioner in the county.

[bashful]

Bullets 'n' Burgers, Arizona
https://www.jctoddphotography.com/img/s/v-10/p3298789137-5.jpg
Shen-Hao PTB617, Osaka Wide Field 120mm, Ektar 100

[Don Dudenbostel]

It was a rainy day today so I started going through my hard drives looking for forgotten scans of old images. Here are a few shots from twenty five or more years ago.

[Don Dudenbostel]

A few color images from 2013 from our fair.

[Jim Peterson]

Wheat Harvest Worries. Unknown muralist. Since taken down. Grass Valley, Oregon. Mamiya 7ii, 80mm, Velvia 100245614245614245614

[Don Dudenbostel]

Wheat Harvest Worries. Unknown muralist. Since taken down. Grass Valley, Oregon. Mamiya 7ii, 80mm, Velvia 100245614245614245614

Good to see you preserved this mural with a photo. I live in a small town in East Tennessee and our post office is over one hundred years old. The Tennessee Valley Authority brought electricity and flood control into the valley in the 1930’s and two post offices, ours and one just a short distance south of us, have beautiful murals depicting TVA building the electrical grid and dam in our town. I got permission to photograph them but need to get serious and do additional photos.

Thanks for posting.

[Don Dudenbostel]

Fifty years ago I ran across an old guy that had two full size steam locomotives and three steam tractors and track around his property to run his trains on. His hobby was steam power and giving the kids in the area rides on his trains. He had several antique train cars and a Nash Metropolitan that was setup to run in the rails.

[Don Dudenbostel]

The building was in a tiny town nearby. I shot this with my 5x7 Norma in the early 70’s. Unfortunately the building is long gone.

Next is a freight elevator at the Knoxville L&N train station. Shot in the early 70’s with my Norma 5x7.

[Don Dudenbostel]

Treacle in down town Nashville. Shot with my Sinar Norma 4x5 and Nikkor T 500mm about 20 years ago.

[Don Dudenbostel]

There are several old flour and corn mills in my area. I don’t think any are operating now but a couple are being use for small engine repair shops.

[Don Dudenbostel]

Old car at a junkyard north of Atlanta.

[Martin Aislabie]

There are several old flour and corn mills in my area. I don’t think any are operating now but a couple are being use for small engine repair shops.

Another fabulous set of photographs, Don

Martin

[Don Dudenbostel]

Another fabulous set of photographs, Don

Martin

Thanks Martin!
I’m trying to keep this thread alive hoping others will post. There’s got to be others here making similar images.

[Don Dudenbostel]

What is it about old cars and rust?