Black and White Photography

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I worked on a small series in 2005, photographing abandoned sites around Youngstown, Ohio with the idea in mind to capture some true "Rust Belt" imagery. My wife Kathryn supplied a set of good titles for each picture relating to a story of desolatism and the collapse of the steel mill industry combined with references to Milton's Paradise Lost and biblical themes. My favorite in the series might be Fall From Grace. It is the only one that was manipulated in the dark room to give the effect, in my mind, of a nuclear blast. The sky/clouds were "burnt in" and conveys the "flash" or "double-flash" effect of an atomic detonation. 

That damn waste barrel in that photo spoke to me and informed everything I shot at that site down off of Albert Street. The 55 gallon drum reminded me of some stylized notion of a nuclear waste barrel, and so I imagined capturing the devastation of a nuclear event. The devastation and fallout, if you will, of a collapsed steel industry is what tied into my atomic scenario or phantasy. I've since come to learned that a lot of nuclear waste gets buried on-site next to the reactors, sealed in concrete and mixed with, of all things, kitty litter. That's right, kitty litter! Humans being humans. Possibly, I watched Terminator 2 and other apocalyptic films too many times as a kid. Everything, including the kid's tricycle, was photographed as I found it without staging. A little creepy.

I've not even seen the majority of the black and white film that I shot back then. It just ended up tucked away in storage. One day I'll buy a negative scanner and dig through the old heap of film to see if anything is print-worthy.