Industrial Cities in Wisconsin: Janesville

 

Janesville is a city in south central Wisconsin, the county seat of Rock County. For much of the 20th century, General Motors operated a factory in Janesville, but many people remember the city as being the home of Parker Pens. Parker's excellent fountain pens were popular through much of the 20th century and sold as a prestige product internationally. Sadly, the Parker factory closed in 2009, and the current corporate owner operates a pen factory in France.

 

Railroad bridges over the Rock River near Anglers Park

(30mm ƒ/10 Kodak lens on Leica M mount)

Janesville was built on both sides of the Rock River. At one time, the river must have been lined with industries and worker housing. Many of the buildings remain, and some or most appear to be occupied. 

 

River side (rear) of apartment facing N. Main Street 

River side of N. Main Street commercial buildings

N. Main Street apartments

Main Street is on the east side of the Rock River. Many turn of the century commercial buildings are clustered between W. Court Street and W. Centerway. Parking lots show where older buildings were demolished. 

Walk uphill on St. Lawrence Avenue, and you find gracious late-1800s homes. Look at the extravagant woodwork. 

 

404 St. Lawrence Avenue

418 St. Lawrence Avenue

\

500 E. Court Street 

69 S. Atwood Avenue

Magnificent homes, but I am glad I am not responsible for their maintenance. 

This ends our short look at Janesville, Wisconsin. There is so much more to explore in that state.

I took these photographs on Fuji Acros film with my Leica IIIC camera and a 5 cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens. One photo was with a 30mm Kodak lens adapted from a disposable camera. The light was soft and low contrast on this day. 

More of South Park and the Duwamish Waterway, Seattle, Washington (Sea 10)

Each time I drive to Seattle, I find more interesting industrial and commercial topics to photograph south of the city and along the Duwamish Waterway. Let's start with another look at South Park and proceed north along the waterway.

South Park

14th Ave. South near South Cloverdale Street, South Park

14th Avenue is the main road running north-south through South Park. Many of the restaurants feature Hispanic foods.

 

Not much cooking any more in this taqueria

 

Industrial Zone 

 

Drive northwest, staying on the west side of the Duwamish, and you enter an industrial area. Many companies here serve marine activities and construction.
 

Duwamish Waterway from Overlook Park at South Portland Street

Debris, South Portland Street

(28mm ƒ/2.8 Vivitar lens)

Wire spools, South Fontanelle Street

(35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens)

South Fontanelle Street

Rail cars, 4260 West Marginal Way

(Sears 50mm ƒ/1.7 lens, yellow filter)

General recycling of Washington, 4260 West Marginal Way

(Sears 50mm ƒ/1.7 lens, yellow filter) 

This ends out quick look at the west side of the Duwamish Waterway. Standby for more Seattle in the future.

I took these pictures on Fuji Acros II film with a Pentax MX 35mm camera and 28, 35, and 50mm lenses. Glazers Camera developed the film, but some part of the process resulted in tiny white spots on the film. I suspect it was from gas bubbles in the developer, or possibly the film was not agitated properly, leaving tiny spots undeveloped. They are barely visible on this scale. I will return to developing black and white film myself again. 

Looking for Grunge in Olympia, Washington (Oly 28)

Near the Thurston County Food Bank, Thurston Avenue, December 2025

I like to wander around looking for urban (and rural) decay and the detritus of our modern consumer society. Olympia, Washington, is not as rich with subjects as Jackson, Mississippi, or other southern cities, but one can find material here. 

Olympia Downtown

 

Unused tracks and view of Thurston County Food Bank
(Hasselblad 501CM camera, 250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens)

No camping on Chestnut Street, but some swine left a bag of trash.

Black cat and mold

Parking lot off Columbia Street NW

Parking lot off Columbia Street NW

(Ilford XP2 film, Pentax 28mm ƒ/3.5 shift lens, yellow filter)

4th Avenue near Plum Street

 

West Bay 

 

West Bay Drive passes along unused former industrial land. There is one city park and unused flat terrain that once was occupied by Hardel plywood and Reliable Steel.  

 

Former Reliable Steel shed, 1218 West Bay Drive

(Fuji Acros II film, 35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens)

Free office chair

"Pacific Titan" crane barge moored at Port of Olympia

(Fuji Acros II film, Pentax MX camera, 50mm ƒ/1.4 Pentax-M lens) 

Tumwater

 

Cars painted here?

Former Olympia Brewery 

(Kodak T400CN film, Pentax MG, 35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens, med yellow filter)

 

This is the former Olympia Brewery ("It's the Water"). Year after year, these ugly tan buildings molder away in the Deschutes River valley. Who will ever use these buildings again?

 

Skokumchuck

 

When I bike on the Chehalis Western trail, I often stop at the Monarch Sculpture Park for a rest and drink. Immediately north of the park, railroad tracks end in the woods. For months, these petroleum tank cars loomed over the bike trail. 

I took these photographs with Kodak Panatomic-X (120 size), Kodak T400CN, Ilford XP2, and Fuji Acros II films using Leica, Pentax, and Hasselblad cameras. 

Small Cities in Washington: Kelso

 

The weather forecast called for some dry days in late December (2025)! This was too good to miss, so I took a road trip south to the Columbia River. My first stop was the city of Kelso, which is on the east side of the Cowlitz River across from Longview. Here are some views around town. 

 

Central Kelso 

 

Downtown Kelso from Cowlitz Way (WA-4) bridge

(Kodak Ektar 100, Zeiss Ikon ZM camera, 50mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens at ƒ/2.8) 

BNSF tracks under Cowlitz Way bridge (50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens)

The Cowlitz River flows between Kelso and Longview. After Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980, an immense amount of mud and ash flushed down the Toutle Rivers and into the Cowlitz. Ultimately, about 65 million cubic yards of sediment dropped into the lower Cowlitz and Columbia Rivers (from Robert I., Topinka, L, Swanson, D. (1990). "Eruptions of Mount St. Helens: Past, Present, and Future". U.S. Geological Survey Special Interest Publication).

 

Bingo at the FOE club, S. Pacific Avenue

Clock shop, 514 S. Pacific Avenue

300 1st Avenue (50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens)

407 N. Pacific Ave

103 Crawford Street (50mm Jupiter-8 lens)

406 1st Avenue (50mm Jupiter-8 lens)

North Kelso

 

Family Daily Store (50mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens)

Taqueria, 1009 N. Pacific Avenue (50mm Summicron lens)

Skeleton man on patrol duty, 305 N. Kelso Avenue 

620 M 3rd. Avenue

 S. River Road and S. Pacific Avenue

1400 S. Pacific Avenue

Mobile home off S. River Road

514 S. Pacific Avenue

Near the south end town, Douglas Street (50mm Summicron lens)

 

This ends a quick look at the City of Kelso. I was pleased to see many mid-20th century houses, many with Arts and Crafts architectural details. Some of the city look pretty good, but some of it is rough. 

I took these pictures on Kodak Ektar 100 film with a Zeiss Ikon ZM rangefinder camera and various lenses. Some frames were with my 1962 Soviet 50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens. Stopped down to ƒ/4 or ƒ/5.6, it does remarkably well. On internet scale, of course, it is difficult to see if one lens is "better" or "sharper" than another. The Zeiss Ikon camera has a large, clear viewfinder and an amazingly accurate auto exposure function. 

Northeast Photographic in Bath, Maine, developed the film and scanned it with a Noritsu system. The Noritsu extracts impressive resolution from the negatives, and the files are clean. I assume there must be an infrared dust/scratch function that cleans blemishes. The Noritsu files have an odd warm tone, but I corrected them with the auto color function in Photoshop Elements 2024. (Note: Elements will let you crop, rotate, change color, and do some other adjustments on 16-bit TIFF files. But many functions require you to convert to 8-bit color, so Elements is limited if you want to retain your original 16-bit files.) 

This is a continuation of my irregular series on Washington towns and cities. I will expand the series to include Oregon cities.  

Autumn in Olympia (Oly 27)

 

It is spring of 2026 in Olympia, and an amazing profusion of flowers and leaves are bursting forth. What a spectacular display of nature. But wait, how did winter zip by so quickly? And what about autumn? I did wander around in November and December of 2025. Therefore, Dear Readers, this time I will impose on you some "pretty" pictures. Enjoy the colors and patterns. 

 

Olympia

  

Percival Landing, Nov. 11, 2025

Rail line under Interstate 5, off Henderson Park Lane, Nov. 15, 2025 

(Zeiss Ikon ZM, 21mm ƒ/4,5 Zeiss Biogon-C lens)

View SW towards tunnel under Capitol Blvd. SE (90 mm ƒ/4 Elmar-M lens)

Along the Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail (21mm ƒ/4.5 Zeiss Biogon-C lens)

Sunset from my balcony, East Bay Drive NE (50mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens)

Former Reliable Steel shed, West Bay Drive (21mm ƒ/4.5 Zeiss Biogon-C lens)

 

Tumwater

 

Capitol Blvd. SE (historic Route 99), view north (50mm Summicron lens) 

Former Olympia Beer brewery (50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens at ƒ/8)

 

The buildings that formerly housed the Olympia Beer ("It's the Water") brewery remain unused, an eyesore. The grounds are patrolled by a security guard. He and I wave to each other when I set up my tripod on the Capitol Blvd. bridge.

 

Seattle

 

Shed next to Connections Museum, Corson Avenue, Seattle

East Marginal Way South, view south (50mm Summicron lens)

In autumn, even East Marginal Way does not look too bad. Cancel that; it still looks very industrial and grungy.

I took these pictures with Kodak Ektar 100 film exposed at EI=80 using my Zeiss Ikon ZM camera with various lenses. The view of the Olympia brewery was with my 1962 50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens from the Soviet Union. This is a Sonnar type of optic that is usually acclaimed as a portrait lens because of its pleasing signature. But stopped down to ƒ/5.6 or ƒ/8, my copy does exceptionally well with distant subjects.  

Northeast Photographic in Bath, Maine, developed the film and scanned it with a Noritsu system. The Noritsu colors tend to look very warm, and I adjusted color with Photoshop Elements 2024.

 

Zeiss Ikon ZM rangefinder camera with 21mm ƒ/4.5 C-Biogon ZM lens