Elevator, Big Rock Illinois
February 6, 2010 by rusticroads

I am currently working on a project for school, which will result in ten final prints at the end of the semester.  Today was my first day of shooting, and although it was cold and windy as hell I got some really good shots.  My theme will have something to due with rural Northern Illinois succumbing to the subdivision, or something like that.  Appropriate, as I live in the very western suburbs of Chicago and they are constantly putting up new subdivisions, huge farms of “McMansions” in the corn and soybean fields west of town.  Part of the project is simply photographing iconic rural Midwestern fixtures – as in the grain elevator here.  I also have to choose three photographers to “guide me” in this project – my primary choice, and the only one I’ve decided on for sure at this point, is Wright Morris.  He has a very famous photograph called “Gano” – a grain elevator he photographed in Kansas in 1946 or 47 (I think).  So this is my take on that – “Big Rock.”

Big Rock Elevator

Big Rock Elevator



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  1. February 24, 2010 by Jeanine Dhesi

    Love you photograph! I grew up about a block from the grain elevator and remember it well!

  2. March 25, 2010 by Gary Cooper

    Been in Big Rock a few time. XSport has their headquarters out there. Couple of questions about the picture. What kind of camera did you use to take the picture? Did you use a tri-pod? The sky look great in this picture. Did you use HDR to pull in different aspects of the picture?

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