Photography News Issue 30 absolutephoto.com
Interview 43
How much research and preparation goes into a shoot? Quite a lot, but I must credit my wife Eva. It’d be inaccurate to suggest that most of eastern Montana and the Dakotas are abandoned; we witnessed pockets of abandonment. She noticed that while many of the communities along the main rail links were surviving, this wasn’t the case inmany of the towns situated on spur lines. Moreover, with the advent of Google Earth, and the generosity of many other photographers posting images on Flickr, finding interesting locations was considerably easier than when we first started this project 19 years ago. What are the challenges when shooting this type of subject? The major challenge we constantly encounter is the tricky issue of trespassing. While here in the UK, nobody would bat an eyelid if you are seen in a deserted building, things are quite different in America. Moreover, since the publication of Ghosts in the Wilderness many American photographers are now attracted to this genre, which is frustrating some of the remaining locals. As a consequence, if we see a “No Trespass” sign, we respect it, if a property is locked or secured in some way, we walk away, and if we see a local, we ask for permission. the Wilderness; Abandoned America was shot exclusively using film, why switch to digital for this book? Ghosts in
Technology moves on; while all our photographs for Ghosts were taken using medium-format cameras, we have found that the quality we can achieve using a full-frame DSLR is about the same. Moreover, when I was shooting on film, I needed to use two or three prime lenses, but lens manufacture is so good these days, that most of my shots were taken using just a 24-105mm zoom. Factor in the ability to see at a glance what you have captured, and somehow it’s a no-brainer. What gear do you use and do you use any specific techniques? I currently use a Canon EOS 5DS camera, but most of the images were taken using a Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Eva uses a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. In addition to the 24-105mm zoom, I also used a 100-400mm lens, particularly for some of the landscapes (I couldn’t help noticing that this is a technique many moviemakers use for their opening still shots). For some of the evening photographs I used a large Metz hammerhead flashgun off camera to illuminate specific buildings. What post-processing work was involved? As I was shooting in Raw, most if not all of the post-processing was done in Lightroom. Contrast was the major problem, but this was overcome by making adjustments using the Shadows and Highlights sliders. The grey skies we captured added to that sense
of pathos, but in order to make better use of these, a slight increase in Clarity was also applied. That was about the extent of it. In terms of representing the truth do you always capture what you see or have you ever moved objects about? There were two good reasons for not moving anything; first, if we did, the marks left in the layers of dust would be immediately apparent. Second, we were constantly being warned by local farmers that, particularly in summer, rattlesnakes would seek shelter in these buildings, therefore it was wise to leave things undisturbed, particularly at ground level. Do you prefer to shoot inside locations or shoot the location in the landscape? We enjoyed doing both; quite often a building could appear quite unremarkable from the outside, but considerably more interesting once you got inside. For us, the aimwas always to establish a balance between the two. What are your highlights from the project? I discussed this with Eva at length and we concluded that just about every day offered us excellent photographic opportunities. There were no specific highlights. How long did it take to create the book? As we both had experience of doing this sort of thing, it didn’t take too long. Once we made our selection of images, the hardest task was to write the accompanying captions, which needed to be brief, yet informative. As we travelled, we got into the habit of writing a diary, which certainly helped. When it came to the final selection process how difficult was it to choose the images? The key here was balance; not only did we want to ensure that we were both fairly represented, but also that we didn’t feature any specific subject at the expense of others. Paul Mitchell, the book’s designer, was also greatly helpful in this respect. What do you hope to achieve with these images and the book? First, we hope it encourages other landscape photographers to explore less obvious locations. Second, we passionately believe that adopting a personal project is the best way to develop as a photographer.
Finding interesting locations was considerably easier than when we first started this project
Churchwest ofMinot “Ten years ago it was incredibly rare to come across a seemingly abandoned church, but now this is becoming a more frequent occurrence, reflecting the continuing drop in the local churchgoing population.” Corrin School, nearMiller “These old school desks could well be about 100 years old and are now extremely sought after.” AbandonedDodge and elevator “This community, near from the Canadian border, used to be on a branch line of the Great Northern Railroad.” Boarded upwindow, Scranton “Some of the properties were so wrecked, that we wondered what was left to photograph. Here, with much of the roof missing, shafts of light created interesting patterns.”
tonyworobiec.com
Get the book
Abandoned on the Plains, Fragments of the American Dream by Tony and Eva Worobiec is out now and can be purchased for £15.99 from rhemediaphotography.co.uk Signed copies can be bought directly from the authors for £13.50 (includes postage and packaging). Send cheques and address to: Tony Worobiec, 48 Forest Edge Road, Wareham, Dorset BH20 7BX.
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