Tag: oklahoma

  • The Element Cross Country Adventure

    The Element Cross Country Adventure

    The January 2025 trip was extra special for the FMS team as it had two purposes: vintage photography on the backroads and bringing the Element from Bellingham, WA, to Yukon, OK.

    The short story is simple, Peep built up an awesome adventure rig and sold it to Dixie. I flew to Peep’s hometown and we drove backroads back to Oklahoma through Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. We ventured around 2600 miles and even hit the last Blockbuster in Bend (OR) and a Buc-ees in Amarillo, (TX).

    We captured some amazing locations along the way and met wonderful people who shared their passions, like Jessie and Junior in Likely (CA), Joel with his father’s Galaxie 500 in Twentynine Palms (CA), and Daniel with a group of VW vans off CA62 near Danby Lake. A little further down that road, we ran into a French family, Bilou’s Family, that shipped their VW van over to Canada and working their way down to Panama.

    While on these explorations on the road, we do a lot of searching and looking at everything for great captures that inspire us and hope to encourage others to venture out, off the interstates to experience a slower pace and celebrate the little discoveries. When you seek, you will find and sometimes capture the ordinary that can be extraordinary, like the “Free Piano” just sitting alone off the busy road.

    This post just scratched a little of the surface from Dixie’s camera and Peep will be posting some of his favorites soon. In the meantime, follow us on Instagram, @ForgottenMainStreet, to see more dynamic captures with Fujifilm GFX cameras and vintage manual focus lenses.

    If you have questions or would like to collaborate on a vintage lens project, send us an email forgottenmainstreet@gmail.com to get it started. You can also sponsor a tank of gas on the next adventure!

    Thanks for following our photography passion project!

  • The Water Boy

    The Water Boy

    I’m always amazed with discoveries during my urban explorations around Oklahoma City and the surrounding metro. Nearby to my favorite coffee shop, I encountered such a moment and, after a week, I’m still in awe of this sight.

    I’m going to leave names and locations out of this post until I’m able to find some more information to fill in the gaps. Honestly, I’m not sure exactly what I need to know since sometimes a hopeful heart can fandom a nicer fiction than reality.

    The location of the “The Water Boy” was brought to my attention recently by a friend in downtown Oklahoma City near 7th street. I’ve walked past this area hundreds of times without knowing what lurks just on the other side of the fence line. There is no telling how long he has been here or where he hails from. But he certainly doesn’t belong here.

    After visiting for a while and observing the left-behind impact of a probable nomadic homeless shelter, we could agree that someone stole the boy from a nearby water feature. But from where? And for what purpose? Did the statue provide some solace and hope from that person’s current situation? I can’t imagine it would have been taken to pawn for food or drink cash. This has to be an act of a higher calling. To what end?

    For the moment, The Water Boy is safe, hidden from public view and possible vandals but we must decide on his future soon before the modernization of the area quickly envelopes the hideaway.

    The images below were shot with a retro Carenar 35mm f2.8 mounted on a Fujifilm X-Pro3 and Pixco Focal Reducer.

    What are your thoughts? Please comment below.

  • Okarche, OK

    Okarche, OK

    Okarche is a combination of three words – OKlahoma, ARapaho, and CHEyene.  The post office was established in 1890 and the town was incorporated two years before statehood, in 1905.  In the 1890s, German immigrants were the largest population segment so German was widely used in the community until the US entered World War I in 1917.  Afterwards, bilingual education and workshop continued for another two decades.

    In November 1926, the federal highway numbering system was implemented and the Meridian Highway through Okarche was assigned US-81 and fully paved in the area by 1931.  The Northwest Highway OK-3 was a gravel road in 1939 and fully paved by 1947, providing a direct route to Oklahoma City.

    The town is best known for Eischen’s Bar, claiming to be “the oldest bar” in Oklahoma and world famous for it’s secret recipe fried chicken.  In 2009, Food Network’s program, Guy Fieri’s Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives, visited Eischen’s and the bar was featured in the TV show.

    Here are some of my favorite areas in town, all taken with vintage lenses mounted on a Fujifilm X-Pro3.  Check out the Forgotten Main Street Flickr Group for more images.  We would love you to join us and show the world YOUR favorite Main Street.