The Doors #18: "Quantum Tunnel"

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"Public Library"
Greensboro, NC - May 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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When I travel, I normally keep the camera handy on the seat beside me. I've found that if I don't I miss a lot of good opportunities that come up at traffic lights, or stop signs or just along the way. And occasionally I find that the only way to capture a particular shot is on the move. This was one such shot. I was on my way to meet a friend for dinner in Greensboro and spotted this uniquely designed doorway on a building (which turned out to be the public library) just ahead.

I was only going to get one crack at this, unless I wanted to circle the block (which I didn't since I was already cutting it close on time as it was) and there was going to be no time to muddle with metering or settings, this was a drive-by shooting all the way.

The first problem facing me was that the building was on the passenger side of the truck and the passenger window was closed. Which accounts for why the door is no better centered than it is in the frame. So yes, I will have to confess I was holding the window switch with my left hand and dialing the camera to it's auto-exposure setting with the other. The window finished its traverse just in time for me to squeeze off one shot -- more or less a no-look (though not entirely) -- and drive on. I examined the take at the next traffic light, decided I could live with it and made it to dinner with time to spare. The door photo came off almost perfectly and the chicken biryani was marvelous!

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The Doors #17: "Christ Church"

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"D'ya Suppose it's Locked?"
Raleigh, NC - May 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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Remember a couple of weeks ago when I said I knew almost nothing about the church in the photo? Well I still don't. Hey, what's to know? I found another cool door. It qualifies.

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The Doors #16: "My Grand Entrance"

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"In Through the In Door"
Raleigh, NC - May 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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Not what you'd call an especially grand entryway is it? But it has a special meaning to me. But in 1960, during the waning days of the Eisenhower Administration, somewhere up these steps and through these doors 9 pounds, twelve ounces of bouncing baby Mojo entered this sphere. Back then, this building housed Rex Hospital. Rex moved out for bigger, better quarters years ago though and now the old hospital is home to the Employment Security Commission. Which is a euphemistic way of saying it's the Unemployment Office. Hopefully I won't have to make an Emergency Room visit here again.

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The Doors #15: "A Doors Two-fer"

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"Christ Church Episcopal"
Raleigh, NC - May 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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I have to confess, I know nothing more about this church than its name and the fact that it has a very sturdy, very imposing door. Which is behind a rather forbidding looking iron gate. Which is how this came to be called a "two-fer".

However, when this post first published (accidentally, and on the wrong day) I misidentified it as Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, which is only a few blocks away and very(!) similar in style. My neighbor and blog pal Carver saw the shot and the caption and questioned whether or not that might be Christ Church -- the oldest Episcopal church in Raleigh, and one where her dad was the rector for 30 years. Since I knew for sure that I had shot Christ Church on the evening in question, and since she had such an intimate history with that church, I decided a bit of sleuthing was in order.

And as it turns out, it was "order" that was exactly what led me to discover that Ms. Carver was quite correct. By examining the shots following the ones of this door, and remembering the route I had traveled, I determined that it would be impossible for this to be Good Shepherd, because I hadn't reached Good Shepherd yet. Not that anyone out in the rest of the world would know the difference, but it's important to be accurate about these things as much as possible. So a shout out to Eagle Eye Carver, without whom I would have been giving you bad information. Do stop by and say thanks won't you?

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The Doors #14: "What's In a Name?"

"Once Upon a Church"
Raleigh, NC - May 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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The street that's home to this charming little stone building is one I've traveled probably hundreds of times, just not on this block. All the same, I'm sure I've passed the place on a number of occasions and never noticed it. The road is pretty narrow here so perhaps negotiating between the cars parked on both sides required all of my attention. But on this day, it jumped out at me and demanded I stop and shoot it.Based on its general appearance I could only assume it was a church of some kind, but there were no signs to identify it as such. It clearly was in far too good a state of repair to be abandoned, but what church doesn't at least display its name for passers by? This was far too good a mystery to leave unsolved, so with nothing work with than an address the game was now afoot.

Turns out that an address and Google Maps was enough. In its former life, the building was indeed a church but now serves a far more secular purpose. Ironically it's now a photography studio. Stranger still it's owned by a high school classmate of mine. Guess I'll have to stop in and say hello sometime.

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The Doors #13: "Deliveries in Rear"

"Still Working After All These Years"
Raleigh, NC - February 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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I always love to see a well maintained or restored antique auto, but when said auto is still being used to do productive work it somehow means more. And there's no truer case of this than this 1942 Ford Delivery Van currently employed at the Seaboard Ace Hardware store. Part rolling billboard and (presumably) part delivery vehicle I stumbled across it one chilly February afternoon sitting in the parking lot of the store. That I'd photograph it -- from multiple angles -- was a given, despite the less than ideal mid-afternoon light. It's not a flawless restoration, there are a few details that could be touched up, but for a working truck that seems appropriate somehow.

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The Doors #12: "Open, But Closed"

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"Premises Protected by Emptiness"
Bethlehem, PA - November 2005 (Click to embiggen)

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I've featured plenty of shots of the old Bethlehem Steel mill over the past year, but no matter how many images of it I look at, they all create the same feelings. "Sympathy" isn't really the right word, though I do feel badly for those who suddenly found themselves out of work when the plant shut down. "Awe" is certainly applicable when I consider that even after the steel mill closed, the city continued to forge on (pun intended). There's a stoicism in Bethlehem that I really admire. Nothing about the town suggests that the people there waste a lot of time feeling sorry for themselves. They just adjusted and continued ahead. If you want a definition of real fearlessness, you don't have to look any further than the Lehigh Valley.

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The Doors #11: "Little GTO"

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"This is Not Your Mother's Pontiac"
Raleigh, NC - March 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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Some photographic subjects just don't need a lot of verbiage. This is one of them. A 1966 Pontiac GTO Convertible can pretty well speak for itself.

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The Doors #10: "Who Knew That Was There?"

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"One Day I'll Shoot the Front Side"
Raleigh, NC - March 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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Set among a lot of faceless utilitarian state office buildings is this charming...umm... Victorian(?) looking place. This is a view of the back side of it that faces the parking deck I park in. I'd been in and out of this deck for nine years, but always on the other side, so I'd never seen this sheltered entryway until last September. I featured a different shot of this door in a Ruby Tuesday post quite a while back, and at the time I didn't know what was in the building it leads into. I still don't, but it's still a neat looking door and an even neater building.

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The Doors #9: "Truth In Advertising?"

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"Maybe the Place Caters To SCUBA Enthusiasts, You Never Know."
Raleigh, NC - February 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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I can't tell you very much about this place that you can't see for yourself. I've never actually been there, but given its location I'd say it probably took its name more for the sound of it than any "real" reason. If the Glenwood South District were a river, this intersection of Glenwood Ave, and Hillsborough Street would be the headwaters. Truly, the convenience store next door seems more in keeping with the "dive" atmosphere than the bar. But the gent working out in the parking lot seemed a trifle too interested in what I might be doing and rather than explain, I thought it best to move along. So I didn't research things further.

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The Doors #8: "220 N. Dawson"

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"Bob's House?"
Raleigh, NC - March 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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I've been fascinated by this building for a long time. Its original mission in life I do not know, but I surmise that it is one of many state-owned buildings in downtown Raleigh. It sits around the corner from my office, and despite its size you might pass it every day and never notice it.

The windows and doors are boarded over and padlocked and I've never seen anyone going in or coming out. The only clue to its heritage is a block nested in among the bricks above this door bearing the inscription "1898". I can only assume that this is the year it was completed because the address is 220 N. Dawson St.

It's possible that there are plans afoot to restore the place. I noticed a few days ago when walking past it that one of the many window unit air conditioners was running. That, however, is the only indication I've ever seen that anything at all goes on here. If the building is, in fact, owned by the state it's useful life is probably over. With the state budget in the shape it's in, there's little hope that the state will restore it. And sale to the private sector in this economy is probably a faint hope. The money it would take to bring it up to code would probably far outstrip the cost to buy it in the first place. So the most likely fate I see for 220 N. Dawson is that it will crumble in place until it becomes too much of a danger to passers by to allow it to stand any longer. At which point it will most likely fall victim to the wrecking ball and be replaced by something shiny and new.

Such a shame.

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The Doors #7: "3210 Hillsboro"

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"Dead Doorstep?"
Raleigh, NC - March 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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Voting is closed for Nicole B's (First) Scavenger Hunt. My thanks to all that voted for me, I appreciate it greatly. Rumor is that the second edition will begin the end of April. Watch this space!

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At some point, this was a business. Someone's livelihood sprang from this building, and probably supported several others as well. But this is one of those places that you pass by day after day and never see until it's too late. I have no idea what used to go on behind this chipped, fading facade. From the outside it could be anything. Restaurant, club, office. Not even its location offers a real clue. In this stretch of Hillsboro St. you'll find all of the above plus stores and industrial enterprises.

I was too far away to read the notice on the door, even at full resolution, but most likely it serves to inform the public that the building has been condemned, or perhaps that it's in foreclosure. In better times, that would be an incentive for some entrepreneur to snap it up and reverse its fortune. But in this economy, the more likely fate is a steady rate of decay until it's knocked down and replaced with something new and sterile.

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The Doors #6: "Riddle Me This"

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"Door to the Future?"
Raleigh, NC - March 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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In case you missed it: Check out my entry in Nicole B's Scavenger Hunt!

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If a door doesn't go anywhere, is it still a door? This lot on Dawson Street just at the northern edge of downtown Raleigh has been in a state of empty decay for years. I don't even remember what was there or when it crumbled, but recently I've seen guys with bricks and trowels doing things that look masonly and it appears that something is being built there. So perhaps my empty doorway will once again serve in its intended capacity. I'll let you know.

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The Doors #5: "Personal Fowl"

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"Building a Better Chicken"
Raleigh, NC - February 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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In case you missed it: Check out my entry in Nicole B's Scavenger Hunt!

Through this door will pass future generations of... poultry scientists. Okay, go ahead and laugh, but agriculture feeds the world and like everything else it must advance to keep pace with demand. Enter schools like North Carolina State University where growing the food to feed the world is quite literally a science. All that aside, could you have passed this door with a camera and not shot it?

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The Doors #4: "Britannia Triumphant"

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"Sit Down, Strap In, Hang On"
Raleigh, NC - March 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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When properly made a door not only serves to separate inside from outside, it also invites you to come in and have a look around. This particular one invites you to slide inside and take a drive. No spectators or tourists here, this is the driver's side of a pristine 70's vintage Trimuph TR6.

I was just leaving a local restaurant last weekend, when I spotted the car and since I had just been shooting the restaurant and its surroundings, the camera was already at hand. The car stopped me in my tracks -- quite literally -- both because of its flawless condition and because... well, frankly I haven't seen a TR6 in more years than I can remember. This one had obviously found a good home where it had either been lovingly maintained or lovingly restored. And even though I never opened the door, the door opened a portal to my youth when Triumph and MG built the sports cars for Everyman.

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The Doors #3: "Sacred Heart"

"Run and Shoot"
Raleigh, NC - March 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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"Stop and Shoot"
Raleigh, NC - March 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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I pass Sacred Heart Cathedral every morning on the way to work. And every morning until the last two I've thought to myself "I need to get a photo of that door". Even before David started this theme I thought this would make a good photo.

So two days ago I decided that since we'd had our second snow (read an inch of slush) of the year, I'd take the camera along to work and document the "aftermath". But the traffic light that catches me every morning at the corner whereat Sacred heart sits for once decided to be green when I arrived. Unable to stop and take a proper shot, I did manage to slow down and fire a one-hander as I crept by (much to the consternation of the fellow behind me I'm sure). And it was a respectable enough effort all things considered, but not really what I was after.

Undaunted I brought the camera along next morning and the traffic gods were more favorable. I was stopped by the customary red light and able to get not one but two shots, and with somewhat better light to boot. Which left me in a quandry. I now had two shots that I liked and couldn't decide between them. So I didn't.

After all, this theme is called "The Doors" not "The Door".

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