It's a beat-up, smashed, rusted, shot-full-of-holes, falling-to-pieces relic that has sat in this field since the early 1960s. A 1939 Pontiac, original colour green. My friend Maurice, who would have been in his mid-twenties when the car was finally put out to pasture, was coy when I asked him if he was responsible for any of the bullet holes. "Maybe," he said, smiling.
Birds have nested on what's left of its upholstery, and animals have dug under it, presumably for shelter and concealment. Its left front fender is a work of art, and I have photographed it in macro mode, with wide angle and fisheye lenses; at dawn, midday, dusk, and at night beneath the Milky Way and Aurora borealis. In every season.
I just checked my files, and since 2009 I have stopped there 30 times with my camera.
I made this shot with the Rokinon 8mm fisheye, preventing horizon curvature by levelling the camera. Tilting it slightly up or down would have produced a pronounced curve. A straight horizon with this lens means the frame is divided into two equal halves, often an uncomfortable proportion, but it can work. Here the top half is all sky, and very different from the bottom half with the car in its snowy field.
In other situations - with different subject matter - I might consider a pano crop, chopping some from the top or the bottom. But not here.
One more to come - for now - of the old beast. That front left fender. The gift that keeps giving.
Photographed in Rosefield, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2025 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: 1939 Pontiac relic old car abandoned field snow snowy winter rust rusty forlorn junk beauty art fisheye land sky prairie Rosefield Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2025
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A big thanks to Tom Blandford for the recent prompt to get out and visit my favourite car of all time, the 1939 Pontiac. It has been sitting in that field since the early 1960s.
The hare, aka White-tailed Jackrabbit, is a recent arrival; I think it has taken up residence. Basement suite. I had already slipped under the barbwire fence and there I was with my tripod and 105mm lens - not expecting a wildlife photo op.
More to come!
Photographed at Rosefield, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2025 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: White-tailed Prairie Hare White-tailed Jack Rabbit Lepus townsendii wildlife animal mammal lagomorph 1939 Pontiac car field abandoned winter snow snowy white wild prairie Rosefield SK Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2025
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Last shot of the 1939 Pontiac: a tight macro close up of a very small part of its left front fender. Only three inches edge to edge. Stars? Fireworks? Rust flowers?
I used the tripod for this, of course, and was careful to line up the plane of my camera's sensor parallel with the plane of my subject - not an easy task because my subject was slightly curved.
It's like stepping back through time, seeing these layers of old paint. Very pale blue-green or even turquoise, underlain by blue, with dark green beneath that. Exposed to harsh winds and blowing grit, baking sun in summer and cracking cold in winter for more than sixty years. An incredible journey despite never leaving the lonely prairie field where it lies.
Photographed in the unincorporated community of Rosefield, Saskatchewan. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2025 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: art junk rust paint abstract abstraction square macro close up beauty fantasy 1939 Pontiac abandoned exposed decay Rosefield Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2025
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A new image set starts today with a subject those of you who have followed my work for a few years will no doubt remember - the old (1939) Pontiac. It sits in a field in the middle of nowhere. It has been among my favourite photo subjects for the past 14 years.
I have to admit that each time I stop here, I have some doubt re. my ability to see anything new in this ancient prairie wreck. After thousands of images, what more is there to tell? But the old beast never disappoints, and I think pushing myself hard to find something previously undiscovered has to be a good exercise.
On this early morning visit, it was the light more than the car, and the tall grass surrounding it that first caught my eye. I've seen it buried in snow this deep, but not grass. We had a good snow pack last winter, followed by a rainy spring. The prairie has been very green this year, although now, by mid-July, it is inevitably turning golden-yellow and brown.
I used my 42-year old Nikon manual focus 24mm wide angle with a polarizing filter for this shot. Photographed at Rosefield, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2023 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: 1939 Pontiac car vehicle abandoned rusty rusted bullet holes beauty prairie landscape dawn morning light wide angle tripod my favourite car Rosefield Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2023
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A small area of the 1939 Pontiac's front left fender... the right fender is missing... every time I spend some time looking at this old car's surface, I see something interesting. The changes are gradual, but I can see noticeable differences in some areas as the paint continues to peel off and the rust spreads in often surprising patterns. Neil Young got it right in 1979: rust never sleeps.
More to come...
Photographed in a field in the middle of nowhere, Rosefield, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2023 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: abstract square paint rust patterns old car abandoned 1939 Pontiac oxidization rust never sleeps macro tripod but is it art? fun Wow! prairie relic Rosefield Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2023 4tografie
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