This is one of my favorite old buildings. It stands in the beautiful and faded Upper Peninsula village of Michigamme, and this is the second time I have photographed it. The building used to be a bar and some say it had a shady reputation years ago. Unpainted for many years, its gray clapboards harken to another era.

When I began to photograph the building, I was initially attracted by the classic lines of the door and window. Only after working with the composition for several minutes did I realize that through the windows, I could see an American flag gently waving in the breeze. That made the picture for me, because it spoke to me of the American history this building has experienced.

The original photograph is a medium format color transparency; I removed all the color except for the flag - which I think enhances the feeling of time and history.

Lee Rentz