Saturday, December 25, 2021

 On the way to: TWILIGHT, West Virginia

Every once in a while, a place is named perfectly. In southern West Virginia, there is Twilight. Located in Boone County, Twilight is at best, alone. Currently, lots of folks feature Twilight in a number of the lost and abandoned blogs, which is to me, a total waste of time.. I LOVE the name and I LOVE the fact that Twilight has its own character. MOST people drive by, then leave after they snap pictures of collapsing houses in an isolated setting. NOT ME.I saw the processing facility in Bandytown as I drove toward Twilight. When I entered,  I thought, this is power.

Eagle Nest Incorporated. This is in front of what used to be the original facility, YES the portal across the road is sealed, but can be found. , This is the newer facility and I was in awe to get so close to see what so many never see.


Shot from the road.



Taking a walk in the processing facility. I LOVED it. 


Processing silos. I was totally engaged and loved taking the shots I could with my camera


The point of photographing Twilight is simple. IF you stop and look, you will see why you come to photograph coal towns, it is their power. Power is not in what is abandoned, or falling, power is wondering, what was there???








1 comment:

  1. The power of a coal operation...coal barons who lived sumptuously? The political powers who kept them in favor? The raw power of the unprocessed coal in the ground, awaiting it's potential to drive industry, provide warmth in the most inhospitable environs? Is this the power of places like these? I don't think so. The power of these places was within the people that inhabited them; in their work ethic, their ingenuity,their faith, their community.This power was revealed most ostensibly during the operation at its zenith; although the overt show of everything previously mentioned sometimes distracted the viewer from understanding this truth. How can I substantiate my claim? The companies are defunct,the machinery lies rotting, the buildings and houses are but whispers in the overgrowth,the centers of commerce and trade are abandoned. The faith, love, and determination of those families lives on in their children; now scattered like seeds. This is the power of coal.

    ReplyDelete

Please do share your thoughts