Oregon Foto Blog | Pictures of Oregon

A couple of weeks ago I went back for the fifth time to an old homestead that I call “Outside of Shaniko” because it is off Highway 97 about 20 miles from the old ghost town of Shaniko in Eastern Oregon. 

Although I have been here many times, not all of them were successful shots since I feel that having interesting clouds in the sky is important in adding drama and interest to the photos.  Luckily, this time the weather cooperated and I had a brief moments of dark skies but with some sun breaks to light up the subjects.  Some sad news however, the windmill that has been so prominent in the photos in my prior trips appears to be damaged from this last winter.  It looks like the wind broke one of its supports and the windmill is no longer spinning. 

As I have visited this location multiple times in just a couple of years period, each time I visit I see that the structures become more and more dilapidated. You can tell that this place has held on strong for maybe 100 years but not too many good years appear left. Maybe I should head out that way again in a couple of months to see the changes and hopefully capture some new shots.

I have many more pictures of this old homestead outside of Shaniko in my photo gallery at Oregon Foto | Pictures of Oregon. I would consider a few of my “Shaniko” shots to be some of my best work and certainly a project that I have enjoyed. I hope you find this work as memorable as I do.

Here are some recent shots from that trip…….

This is a shot of the main house:

 This is a quarter angle view of the main house:

Here is the back view of the homestead with a clear view of the windmill:

 

This is a closeup of the barn that is on the property: