|Combining Landscapes

On a recent trip to Hecla Island I took the opportunity to photograph the old ferry dock. From around the 1920's until 1975 when the causeway was finished, the ferry was the only way to access the island.

It is a beautiful reminder of days not that long ago when the then 500 residents of Hecla had to traverse the lake to their quiet retreat via boat. Since the dock has been abandoned it has slowly fallen into ruin and has become a site for many photographers to visit. The way the dock has slowly fallen on one side to create a hounds tooth pattern caught my attention. The boards slope downwards into the lake as if drawn there to pool and slide to the lake bottom, quickening their decay.

Once sturdy timbers, the boards are softened by the permeation of water, weakened by frost, and battered by ice and wind.

As the wood rots vegetation finds purchase in the decayed material and begins to grow. A process of reclamation is revealed where products that are man made are being enveloped by natural re-growth. Sites like this can neither be considered pristine nature nor cultural landscapes. They do however represent a state of harmonious decline and re-growth becoming a combined landscape which is both nature made and man made.