Empty Storefront; Harmony, Minnesota

Harmony is on the edge of Bluff Country in Southeast Minnesota. It's also part of Minnesota's Amish country. Meaning that the Amish, and their buggies, are an unremarkable sight here. I pass the edge of town on trips to Decorah, Iowa, and a few years have gone by since I last stopped for a look around. I remember the place as having lots of tourists come to gawk at the Amish and buy Amish kitsch at the gift shops. This day, the place was nearly dead. Maybe it was the cold cloudy July weather, (60 degrees F), but the empty shops and storefronts suggested otherwise. So did the almost desperate sounding owner of an Amish shop I visited. It all made me think the recession had more to do with the paucity of traffic. The experience was rather melancholy.

A note on color and composition: This one really is better in black and white. The light was so flat that color version failed utterly. Somehow, I don't think that the Harmony Chamber of Commerce would like this one...

Empty Storefront; Harmony, Minnesota

Harmony is on the edge of Bluff Country in Southeast Minnesota. It's also part of Minnesota's Amish country. Meaning that the Amish, and their buggies, are an unremarkable sight here. I pass the edge of town on trips to Decorah, Iowa, and a few years have gone by since I last stopped for a look around. I remember the place as having lots of tourists come to gawk at the Amish and buy Amish kitsch at the gift shops. This day, the place was nearly dead. Maybe it was the cold cloudy July weather, (60 degrees F), but the empty shops and storefronts suggested otherwise. So did the almost desperate sounding owner of an Amish shop I visited. It all made me think the recession had more to do with the paucity of traffic. The experience was rather melancholy.

A note on color and composition: This one really is better in black and white. The light was so flat that color version failed utterly. Somehow, I don't think that the Harmony Chamber of Commerce would like this one...