Abandoned Red Rowboat | Urban Decay Photography

A Forgotten Wooden Boat Inside an Abandoned Ontario Factory

The first time I walked through this abandoned factory in the Haliburton Highlands, I passed right by the boat.

When I returned, I saw it differently.

An old wooden rowboat had been propped almost vertically against a deteriorating brick wall beneath a concrete staircase. It was completely out of place—a boat built for the water stranded inside an industrial building that was itself slowly falling apart.

That contradiction made the photograph.

The red paint had peeled away in long irregular streaks, exposing bare wood and traces of green underneath. Behind it, decades of wear had transformed the brick wall into layers of faded paint, stains and exposed masonry. Even the staircase seems to have become part of the decay.

I kept the composition square and relatively tight because I wanted the boat and wall to become almost graphic. The diagonal of the hull cuts hard across the frame, while the staircase moves in the opposite direction. Against all those subdued browns, creams and grays, the remaining red paint refuses to disappear.

I photographed this scene in 2006, not far from my studio in Ontario. I never learned how the boat ended up inside the factory, and I think I prefer not knowing. The mystery is part of what made me stop.

The photograph was later selected for publication in Black & White Magazine’s Colour Special Edition, which felt particularly appropriate. Color is essential here. Without that battered red hull, it simply wouldn't be the same photograph.

Sometimes the most interesting subjects aren't where they belong. They're where you least expect to find them.

© Dan Kosmayer, 2006