I’ve Spent My Life

Franconia Paper

I’ve spent most of my life watching this building fall down. It started on the edges first, the newer parts made of cheaper material collapsed onto slightly more expensive and sturdier materials. Steel feel onto bricks. Then vandals set it on fire.

The first time I visited here was when I was 8 years and my parents took a trip to New Hampshire in the winter. The idea of a mill was completely foreign to me. A place where things were made.

The current destruction has nothing to do with dead loads, corrosion or rot but brown fields and a revolving loan fund. The building which used to employ many, is now considered an “eye sore,” and a danger to the community. In its place a hotel, looking like it was built in an era that the community never saw, will rise and employe 100 people. Fewer employees at a lower hourly rate.

I shot this using my Voigtlander Bessa on cheap fomapan from freestyle. Developed in HC 110 on thanksgiving.