The Mississippi Delta 40: Crenshaw

Dear Readers, I plan to review some of my older negatives from Mississippi as I have time. The Delta offered a wealth of photographic subject matter. In the future, you will see occasional articles based on early 2000s road trips around the state.

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Crenshaw is a small town (population 210?) in Panola and Quitman counties. It is typical of many Delta agricultural towns that once had a thriving commercial strip but has fallen on hard (very hard) times. It looks depopulated, and most of the stores are empty or collapsing. These photographs are from April, 2018. The town probably does not look too different today (2025).

MS Hwy 3 comes right through town. This is the main road along which the commerce was once concentrated

The commercial strip is rather sad. Most (all?) of the stores are closed. The soul food restaurant looked like it did not operate.

There was once a public drinking fountain on the sidewalk in front of one of the stores. I wonder if it was once restricted for white or black users?

The police station was in a modest modern building. They were well-equipped with the big old Crown Victoria police cruisers.

William Stokes Street

This ends our quick pass on Hwy 3 through Crenshaw. It was a glarey day with harsh light. I wish I had made more time to explore the Delta, a unique cultural and architectural part of the USA. To see more towns, please type "Mississippi Delta" in the search box.

I took these photographs on Kodak TMax 100 film with a Pentax Spotmatic camera and various lenses. The TMax is very fine grain, but I think I prefer traditional cubic grain films. 

Wandering around Istanbul with Portra 160 Film (Nov. 2024)

Dear Readers, Istanbul is an amazing city, but you know that. I had not been there for almost 20 years. It was time to return. 

Istanbul tourist map (from Masha Pasha Travel)

Istanbul was the center of great empires, even before the era of the Byzantines and Ottomans. Today, Ankara is the capital of Turkey, but Istanbul is the commercial, industrial, finance and tourist powerhouse of the country. History is all around you, everywhere. You walk and breathe history. Romans, emperors, Crusaders, Persians, Greeks, Turkomans, and a myriad others walked these same streets.

Most tourists stay in the Sultanahmet district. The Romans were here 2000 years ago. This is where Hagia Sophia and other amazing mosques are located. The sultans lived here in Topkapi palace. They built cisterns to store water and paved streets with stone blocks. 

In late November of 2024, Istanbul was still crowded, even though this was supposed to be the off season. And we had sunny, clear weather until the last two days of our trip. Summer, during the humid heat and the crowded tourist season, must be almost unbearable. Here is a quick overlook from my short visit.

View of the Bosphorus from Topkapi Palace (Pentax MG camera, 50mm ƒ/2 Pentax-A lens)

Topkapi Palace ticket

In December, ₺ 1700 was about US $29. That is quite a jump compared to 2005, my previous visit.

The Golden Horn with the Karaköy district in the background

Bosphorus view from the Asian side (Samsung digital file)

Ferry boats take you back and forth across the Bosphorus for a low fare. You may recall in "From Russia with Love," James Bond (Sean Connery) and the pretty Soviet cipher girl are on a ferry boat. He asks her to talk into his Rolleiflex, which is really a miniature tape recorder. Love that 1964 technology.

 

Turkish kitty in the morning sun near Hagia Sophia (35mm ƒ/2 Pentax-A lens)

Stray dogs and cats get medical attention and neutering in Istanbul. People feed them and treat them like pets that belong to everyone.

Interior of Hagia Sophia (Samsung phone digital file)

Few domes anywhere are larger than Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque. And this one was built between 532 and 537 by Byzantine emperor Justinian I as the Christian cathedral of Constantinople. It was an astonishing architectural feat for that era. It is a mosque again, so tourists can only access the balconies. The faithful can enter the main floor without fee. 

Arasta Bazaar - for the tourist trade (35mm Pentax-A lens)

You can have a Sultan or a warrior, too.

Many of the souvenir shops in the Sultanahmet area are expensive and sell merchandise for the tourist trade. Best to avoid. The ancient stone building is part of the Sultanahmet Camii (Blue Mosque) complex. Renting commercial space is one way how mosques make money to use for their operations and upkeep.

Büyük Yeni Han, Fatih District (35mm Pentax-A lens)

A Han in Istanbul was a covered building that served as an inn, marketplace, and warehouse. Built during the Ottoman Empire, they were centers of commerce, similar to caravanserai in rural Anatolia. This one, built in the 1700s, still had some workshops on the second floor, but many of the rooms/units looked unused. The brick section crossing the courtyard was a later construction.

Fatih rooftops from Büyük Yeni Han

Egyptian (Spice) Market

The famous Spice Market, also known as the Egyptian Market, in the Eminönü quarter near the Golden Horn, is modern. It was built in 1664. Isn't it nice to be surrounded by infrastructure that is still in use 400 years later? Compare and contrast with the typical crappy US strip mall, maybe 15 years old and already abandoned and trashed. At the Spice Market, buy your oregano, figs, Turkish Delight, and baklava. 

Don't feed the seagulls? Seems like it is done in Istanbul.

Grand Bazaar

The core of the Grand Bazaar (Büyük Çarşı) was started in 1455. It is a huge complex of shops and stalls selling jewelry, textiles, rugs, and souvenirs. Today, it is rather civilized, with LED lights, clean floors, and ventilation, and the merchants accept credit cards. 

In 1965, the Grand Bazaar was rather earthy. I miss the earthy. I wish I had photos of the earthy, but I think those family slides have disappeared. 

Well, you readers know what is next:

 

Dinner with a new friend

Time for a Turkish coffee and pistachio pastry. What else do you do after an exhausting day touring?

If you have never been to Istanbul, go. Just do it. 

More Istanbul to follow. I took these pictures on Kodak Portra 160 film with a Pentax MG 35mm camera and 35 and 50mm Pentax-A lenses. The MG is a consumer version of the compact M series of SLR cameras from the 1980s. I am amazed how well this little camera works. It does not have a manual exposure mode, so I used it as a point-focus-and-shoot. The Pentax K-mount lenses are superb and inexpensive.   

P.S., my 2005 visit:  https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2013/02/at-grand-bazaar-and-egyptian-market.html

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Tourist Information.  If you need the services of a knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and patient guide, call Lale Kosagan at KSG Tours. She is fabulous.

On the Waterfront - Chalcis, Greece (Nov. 2024)

Euripus Strait, Chalcis, with lift bridge linking Euboea to the mainland

Chalcis (also called Chalkida or Halkida) is an ancient city on the Evrípou Strait, which separates mainland Greece from the island of Euboea (Evia). The weather in late November was still sunny and warm, so we thought, "Let's go to Chalcis, look around, and eat by the sea." A typical Greek outing. 

An unusual phenomena of the Evrípou is an irregular tidal current, which changes direction six to seven times a day.

Ice cream time

Nap time

The municipality has cleaned up the waterfront and added benches and recreation areas. 

This is a cheerful waterfront on a sunny day. Summer will be much more busy.

Santa checking out Ice Cream Man

They still sell Fanta in Greece?

Oh oh, getting the Evil Eye next to the Citroen 2CV (Samsung phone digital file)

 Dear Reader, you know what comes next: LUNCH in Nea Lampsakos, a few km south of Chalcis.

It does not get much better than this. And, of course, this is followed with a Greek coffee and a baklava. Ahhh.... (but no nap??)

This ends our November 2024 visit to Greece. I hope you enjoyed the short tour. 

More Wandering around Athens (Nov. 2024)

We continue wandering through Athens. I never lose interest here. 

Uncontrolled late-20th century urban sprawl, northwest Athens. Mount Parnitha is in the distance. (Samsung phone digital frame)

Parts of Athens are a congested concrete jungle. City fathers failed grossly to not impose green space requirements, build parks, or lay out arterial highways after World War II. In the scene above, the land in the foreground had disputed ownership for over five decades but will be preserved as park land.

Scooters on Asklipiou Street, near the Politeia bookstore (21mm ƒ/4.5 Zeiss ZM lens)

The Politeia bookstore has a good selection of books in many languages. In the past, we shopped at the famous Eleftheroudakis bookstore, but it closed in 2016 after 120 years of business.

Phones, Asklipiou Street

I am not a fan of graffiti, but it adds some color to the rather severe limestone walls. It does not do much for the phone booths. 

Lycabettus Hill from the National Museum (50mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens)

Mrs. Poppy's store in the Plaka (35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens)

Monasteraki Square (35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens)

Deep thinking, Athenas Street

Most of these frames are from Kodak Portra 160 film. If you are interested in earlier visits, including the 1950s, please type "Athens" in the search box.

2024 E. Washington Road Trip 01 - Tonakset, Nighthawk, and Oroville

Dear Readers, Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all!  

Thank you for reading my blog. I started this blog in 2010, so this is the 16th year of trying to find and photograph the detritus, decay, and abandoned remnants of our modern world. We will start the new year with a series on eastern Washington. Later, we will see Greece, Turkey, New York City, Olympia, and more. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Packing enough stuff? (No, never!)

Background

By late summer (2024), my wife and I had spent months remodeling, cleaning out junk, sorting paperwork, and setting up life in a new home in the Pacific Northwest. I was restless and wiggly. She wanted me out of the house. And I had not driven through eastern Washington in 49 years. My 1981 car needed some serious highway miles and exercise. Time for a ROAD TRIP!

With a week-long itinerary and a generous offer to stay with an old college friend in Spokane, it was time to pack and set off. Traveling by car, I could take a tripod and both medium format (Hasselblad plus 4 lenses) and 35mm (Pentax Spotmatic F with 5 lenses). And I stashed spare water, tools, motor oil, munchies, a battery jump device, and car parts. Pack heavy? Who cares with a car. 

For the next few articles, I will show some of the 35mm Kodak Portra 160 frames in the order of my trip. They progress through small towns, so look at a map of Washington if you are interested in the exact locations. I learned about some ghost towns from web pages that list such oddities and places to see. And I stopped when I saw a lonely farm or other interesting urban decay feature. Click any picture to see it expanded to 1600 pixels wide. 

Tonasket

Aussie Antiques, Tonakset

Wow, old time Jerry Cans

Good stuff! I love these home-grown antique/junk stores full of treasures. I don't need any in my life, but it is great that someone recycles these remnants of an older age.

Tonakset is a quiet town north of Omak, where I spent the night. Tonasket had a very nice coffee shop right across the street from the Aussie Antiques. 

Trailer with a view, Loomis-Oroville Highway (50mm ƒ/1.4 SMC Takumar lens)

Heading west on the Loomis-Oroville Road toward Loomis, and you get into rolling hills with some agriculture mixed with cattle pasture. It was dry in late summer, the grasslands brown.  

Nighthawk

Former Nighthawk general store (?)

Nighthawk is a ghost town, but there are homes and residents, so it is not truly deserted. At the turn of the 20th century, Nighthawk was a booming mining town as well as a supply center for other mines in the area. The Great Northern Railroad came through this valley. Companies extracted copper, gold, lead, silver, zinc, and antimony from the surrounding area, but most mining ended in the 1950s. There is not much to see here any more, but the scenery is sublime.

Similkameen River northeast of Nighthawk (35mm ƒ/3.5 Super-Takumar lens)

Oroville

Similkameen River west of Oroville

The Girder Bridge (built 2010) carries the Similkameen Trail, a rail-to-trail conversion. The Great Northern Railroad once carried ore and minerals along this line into Oroville and further. 

Chevrolet truck looking good on Central Avenue, Oroville

Skeleton Man on patrol duty on Chesaw Road, Oroville

From Oroville, I continued east on Chesaw Road towards the ghost town of Molson. To be continued...

These photographs are from Kodak Portra 160 film exposed with my Pentax Spotmatic F camera with various lenses, but mostly the 50mm ƒ/1.4 and the 35mm ƒ/3.5. I scanned the film with a Nikon Coolscan 5000 film scanner.