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Surgeon documents demolition of building

Hobbyist photographer found end of life of Arcue Building ‘dramatic.’

John Dobson/Contributed Photo Workers haul away debris after the demolition.

ENLARGE PHOTO

John Dobson/Contributed Photo John Dobson took nearly 700 photos of the Arcue Building's demolition.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Tom Stafford, Staff Writer 10:23 PM Wednesday, February 1, 2012

In taking nearly 700 photos of the Arcue Building’s demolition, the most important lens John Dobson used wasn’t attached to either of his cameras.

“My son is an architecture student,” said Dobson, an orthopedic surgeon in Springfield. “This is the end of the life cycle of a building and it’s almost emotional to see it.

“To me, it was dramatic,” he said. “I know a lot of people feel that way.”

A serious hobbyist, Dobson has taken 30,000 photos in the past 10 years, enough that “I look at the world as though it’s a framed picture,” he said.

Shooting mostly at night, he found the lighting at the 6 W. High St. demolition site “spectacular.”

Spotlights cast intricate shadows along the folds of the 94-year-old building’s fire escape and elongated the shapes of workers and equipment.

The tower and lighted dial of the nearby Heritage Center clock are regular background features, as are arcs of water, sprayed to keep demolition dust down — dust in which Dobson sensed memories rising.

“My sons took driver’s education out of that building and a lot of people lived their lives in there.”

Some of his most dramatic images are dust-filled and a tad out of focus.

The building is down now, but cleanup of the debris continues.

A few photos were massaged with software and a tripod helped on others. But Dobson used his Canon 7D sparingly, taking the bulk of the images with a point-and-shoot Sony with 16.2 megapixel resolution.

Given that a picture tells 1,000 words and Dobson took 700 pictures, the most surprising part of the project may have been his wife Janet’s ability to sum the collection in just seven words: “Who knew demolition could be so beautiful?”

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0368.

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