Virjune Manufacturing Co: Inside Waterbury's Vacant Factory

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J and I were already having a rough day. We'd just driven across town to check out an old industrial site he hadn't visited in a while, only to find it erased. Nothing left but a slab of concrete and chain-link fence. So we took a detour. Sometimes you salvage a disappointing afternoon with a backup plan, even if you're just ticking a box. The former Virjune plant hides in plain sight off Thomaston Avenue. If you drive past in summer, you'll miss it completely. Trees and shrubs swallow the building whole, nature reclaiming what industry left behind. Come winter, though, when the branches go bare and the world turns gray, the red brick skeleton reveals itself. Even then, you have to know where to look. I pulled up old Sanborn maps to trace the building's history. The earliest tenant was an auto body shop in 1922. By February 1950, something bigger had moved in. The map labels it simply "Stamping Wks." No company name. No flourish. Just function. That namele...
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Two Little Mice Out to Play





A quick indoor test shot of a Komura Sankyo Kohki 135mm pentax screw mount. It has 16 aperture blades. Avery well regarded telephoto lens for your lens bag. Vintage glass is pretty extraordinary. I can see myself using this lens often if I was not so tired after work. More to come from this excellent lens.


Camera Info
Canon T3i/600D
ISO 100
f/22
Exposure: 3.2 sec


Source: Pentax Lens Forum, mflenses Forum,

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