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Julie Oldfield | all galleries >> Picture a Day >> May 2016 >
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02-MAY-2016

Rochester, NY

Vacant Lots. Vacant Buildings. America's shrinking cities.
The City of Rochester has been rapidly demolishing abandoned homes causing vacant lots. The wooden posts are put up to prevent cars from entering the grass. A few streets are almost entirely made up of vacant lots in some neighborhoods.

Olympus E-M10,Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm F4.0-5.6
1/8s f/22.0 at 18.0mm iso100 full exif

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Alexander Kazakov09-May-2016 13:07
Nice street perspective! V
bill friedlander08-May-2016 15:45
Pity what has become of a once proud middle class neighborhood. V
Jeff Real05-May-2016 22:58
This area is so compelling and your work here is amazing ~V~
Alan K05-May-2016 03:59
I can understand why they're doing it; an open grass plot is home to far less anti-social behaviour than squatters in derelict houses. But it's a massive waste of resources; all the labour and materials that went into places like that.
Of course abandoned, open lots pay no tax. No tax means fewer civic works. Fewer civic works and infrastructure means less industry and commerce, which means less fewer residents as people move away to find work, means more abandoned homes, which means more open lots. It's like the entire process that wound up an area from the 19th century to the 1960's has now begun to unwind itself.
Those places would once have been considered "good homes" for middle class Americana, I suspect.
Mary Hamilton05-May-2016 01:46
Very poignant. Looks like it used to be a very nice neighborhood. V.
Graeme04-May-2016 08:55
Such a shame to leave this estate unlived in! V
Ursula Miller04-May-2016 05:07
It must have been a nice neighborhood. Great composition and meaningful text, Julie! V
Walter Otto Koenig03-May-2016 14:44
Strong documentary image. hopefully the green grass symbolizes a rebirth of sorts. "V"
Nick Paoni03-May-2016 14:23
Hopefully the beginning of a rebirth. V
Industrial Heritage03-May-2016 14:16
Looking from a distance this looks a cosy place untill you take a closer look and see the decay of the houses. Well taken.
Jim Coffman03-May-2016 13:20
What a shame! Well documented, Julie..
Ton T.03-May-2016 07:43
Great composition and story! V+
Helen Betts03-May-2016 07:36
Wow, I hadn't realized this was happening on such a large scale. Excellent documentary work of this sad phenomenon, Julie. V.
Long Bach Nguyen03-May-2016 06:08
lovely composition and angle and perspective as well as the green field
joseantonio03-May-2016 04:17
very nice composition with that diagonal formed by the road.V
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