I was saddened to hear about the passing of David Plowden earlier this week at the age of 93. Plowden was an early influence on me, particularly his work in the Midwest and Plains. He often described his photography of being one step ahead of the wrecking ball, photographing places that would be gone shortly after his visit. I was fortunate enough to meet Plowden about 10 years ago and show him some work, our mutual love of the plains and especially North Dakota made for a great conversation. He was definitely a kind person and generous with his time, not just for me but for many people and organizations. If you’re not familiar with David Plowden you should definitely check out his work and his very long photography career that stretched back to the late 50’s.
I’ve been photographing abandoned places on the Great Plains for over a decade. I recently organized my pool of photographs into a single folder and realized I have over 700. At this point maybe it’s becoming cliche to photograph abandoned places but I still find it fascinating, no two places are the same. I’ve photographed some of these places in B&W but color captures the vibrant paint so many of these places have.
Anyway, here’s 10 from various different locations.
A few from a roll of Cinestill Double X I ran through my Pentax 67 to see what it would look like. I definitely underexposed the portrait but was still able to make something work. A fun experiment, but cinema film probably isn’t for me.
