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- Church Back Door
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- Diner
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- Green Door
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- Main Street
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- Oldest Show Store in America
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- Pizza Shop
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- Red Door on Main Street
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- Tattoo Parlor
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- Tailor Shop
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- Winchester, MA
David Poorvu
After Hours
Perhaps it is my age but I long for many of the elements of our past. When we give up our small downtown business districts we lose the local shops, their proprietors and a venue to maintain connections with our neighbors. Big Box Retail and On-Line shopping is no substitute for more personal commerce. Our central business districts were a center of community life and activity. When people lived downtown there was a different vitality of entire town. As the lights went in the stores each they came on in the apartments above. Today, so many of those units remain vacant. Even after restaurants and pubs closed there were always signs of life.
Today, across the country, small town central business districts are failing. They are an endangered species. Small downtowns thrive in tourist destinations, where outside money flows in during the High Season and survive for the benefit of The Townies. Off season inhabitants are so much more interesting and colorful. They are the town. Off season and nights are my favorite times to visit such places. Shop windows are lit showing off a variety of wares, chairs stacked on tables in restaurants and signs welcoming customers back tomorrow hang in all the windows.
These images were taken long After Hours in both Maine and Massachusetts. I have tried to show the quiet loneliness of the nights and early mornings and the signs of the little remaining life after hours. I hope that people will once again return to small neighborhood business districts, appreciate the value of small town life and the connection with artists, vendors, professionals and neighbors.
Artist Bio
David Poorvu is a lifelong resident of Massachusetts and trained as a biology teacher. As a nature enthusiast and outdoorsman, he has developed a keen sensitivity to the world around him. A career detour allowed him to experience opportunities in the natural world beyond his expectations.
As a teen, Poorvu had a small photo processing business and was involved in photography for school publications. Family and business took him in different directions until his first trip to Southern Africa in 2001. From that first adventure, he photographed Africa on three additional trips, Australia, New Zealand, The Galapagos, national parks and numerous trips to Jamaica. Poorvu has photographed Wyoming and Yellowstone on three consecutive winters, participated in numerous workshops and classes. His photographs have placed well in competitions and have been displayed in several commercial buildings in the Boston area.
Contact David Poorvu