Author: Mark

06 Feb

Honoring ‘Black History Month’ With My ‘Stops Along the Underground Railroad’

Mark / Architecture, History, Photojournalism / / 0 Comments

In July of 2012 I worked as a photojournalist at the Edwardsville Intelligencer newspaper in Edwardsville, Illinois. I was granted the high privilege to fill the cover of the Saturday B-Section with pretty much whatever photo project I wanted. It was an enormous honor and a first for me, and I took that privilege very seriously. Because I love the rich history the Illinois/Missouri area has to offer, I chose to focus on the “Stops Along the Underground Railroad” in the Alton, Brighton, and Otterville areas. In honor of “Black History Month” I am sharing this photojournalistic work which was one of my proudest moments of being published. The following are the text and photographs from that B-Section cover spread.

From the Edwardsville Intelligencer Newspaper, July 21-22, 2012:

Community Focus: Stops along the Underground Railroad

I would like to extend a big thank-you to Professor Eric Robinson, an American History instructor at Lewis & Clark Community College. Professor Robinson took his time to give me a personal tour of these historic sites during one hot day in mid June. To learn more about his historic tours, you can reach Professor Robinson via email at: jer1008@yahoo.com

Alton: Old Rock House apartment building, 2705 College Ave.
The house was originally a 1 1/2 story used for rooming students of Shurtleff College, now the SIUE dental school. Students would hide slaves in the basement by the central chimney. The slaves were most likely hidden during the summer months because the central chimney nook was used as a warming oven in the colder months.

Brighton: Thomas Brown House
Thomas Brown, from Alabama, was the town doctor before the Civil War and was also an Underground Railroad Conductor. Records have shown that there were three buildings in Brighton used to hide slaves along the Underground Railroad. This is the only building left. Dr. Brown would assist slaves along the Underground Railroad, traveling from Upper Alton, getting them on the stagecoach heading to Jacksonville, some 40 miles away.

Otterville: Hamilton Primary School
Dr. Silas Hamilton moved from Adams County, Miss., bringing slaves with him which he freed upon crossing the Ohio River, all except a small boy named George Washington, which he raised as a foster son. Dr. Silas Hamilton and George Washington originally met when Dr. Hamilton was riding a horse in Virginia and came across a slave aution where 7 year-old George Washington was crying because his mother had been sold. Upon Dr. Hamilton’s death in 1834, he willed funds to rect a monument to George Washington, while Washington was still a young boy, as well as to build a schoolhouse. Part of Dr. Hamilton’s estate also set aside funds to be used for the education of “colored children,” known as the George Washington Education Fund.

Otterville: Dr. Silas Hamilton and George Washington Monument
Inscribed on the Dr. Silas Hamilton and George Washington monument it says “Erected by George Washington, born a Virginia Slave. Died in Otterville, ILL Apr. 18, 1864, A Christian Freeman. To the memory of Dr. Silas Hamilton, his former master. Born at Tinmouth, VT. May 19, 1775. Died in Otterville, ILL Nov. 19, 1834. Having in his lifetime given freedom to twenty-eight slaves, and at his death bequeathed four thousand dollars for the erection and endowment of the Hamilton Primary School.”

Alton: Enos Apartments, 325 E. 3rd St.
The Enos Apartments were built in 1858, the same year as the Lincoln-Douglas debates, originally with a basement, a ground floor, and an attic. The third story was added later on in the 1870’s, bringing with it a turret orginally from the tp of the second floor. The building was originally built as a tuberculosis sanatorium. Records indicate that a woman by the name of Priscilla Baltimore, who was a former slave from Burbon County, KY., was an Underground Railroad Conductor. She was also the founder of the Lovejoy, Illinois and the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the St. Louis area. Upon her death in 1881, she was credited with helping 300 slaves escape to the north. Stories describe a tunnel that was suspected to begin at the Mississippi River, leading up the hill in Alton through the Enos Apartments, and then continued to lead up the hill to Brighton, ending at the Thomas Brown House. When you understand that “tunnel” refers to “path,” it begins to make more sense.

Alton: In this house, built in 1820’s, the priest from the old Catholic church St. Mathew’s hid salves in his home in plain view, according to research done by Irene Pittermire. This house has no secret rooms or secret spaces, so what is believed is that this home, like many religious buildings at the time, was considered above reproach which allowed slaves to be concealed seemingly in plain sight. Other examples of these kinds of buildings which were not searched for slaves were churches and convents.

06 Feb

The “Shattered” Past and Announcing February’s FREE Print Winner

Mark / Black & White, History, North Dakota / / 0 Comments

While exploring the abandoned Fort Ransom farm I discovered a few vehicles from what looked like the 1950’s. This “Shattered” truck window made for an interesting border to the photograph, while it added the texture of broken glass while gazing through into the farm’s field. This was symbolic of the decay and dismantling from time and the elements I found throughout the farm’s implements and structures.

The ghostly haze in the top portion of the broken glass window also added a kind of mystery as it was not in the rest of the window.

I would like to announce that the winner of my FREE 8″ x 10″ photographic print for Feb. 1st was Barb from Oregon. She will be receiving her print by mail soon.

I will be drawing another name from my Newsletter Subscriber list on March 1st, and will be giving away another FREE 8″ x 10″ photographic print. Be sure to Subscribe for your chance to win one of my FREE prints.

01 Feb

When All Signs of Life Are Gone, All We Have Left Are the “Remains of a Day”

Mark / Black & White, History, North Dakota / / 0 Comments

In exploring the old Fort Ransom farm, I made a point of capturing still life images of objects where I found them. I did not remove anything or setup any props. I wanted to capture the objects as time and the elements placed them. “Remains of a Day” epitomizes this goal.

This photograph captured along side one of the houses shows the remains of a barrel, most likely used to collect rain water. Also the chair is found where it tipped over and then was overgrown by the North Dakota tall grass. Like the stories of how the desert reclaims its cover and control over time, the same is true with the tall grass in North Dakota. Again, the similar cracked textures of the dried grass and the cracked wood compliment each other in their aged condition through the format of black and white film.
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30 Jan

“Stove and Straw” Shows Textured Contrast in Black and White Photography

Mark / Black & White, History, North Dakota / / 0 Comments

One of the aspects of black and white photography where it truly excels is in the area of capturing textures. Sometimes without the distraction of color, black and white photographs can almost take on a 3d appearance. This was my exercise in capturing the “Stove and “Straw.” The cast iron stove created a stark textured contrast between the iron and the tall grass with which it has stood for decades.

This abandoned Fort Ransom farm in southeastern North Dakota was my photographic classroom for 6 long years and longer. From still life to landscape subjects, and even the occasional low light captures, it provided a great opportunity with countless subjects to choose.
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25 Jan

The “Wooden Wagon” Captures the Remains of This Piece of Farming History

Mark / Black & White, History, North Dakota / / 0 Comments

Over the past 26 years, my capture of this old “Wooden Wagon” has been one of my more popular photographs. The texture of the old faded and cracked wood, contrasted with the tall grass gives an almost 3d effect in black and white.

This old wagon was prominent in the field of the old homestead. Most likely used to carry grain, manure, or other such uses made this an important asset to the farm and its sustainability. This would have been a wagon initially used by drawn horses, and maybe later pulled by a motorized tractor until the wood was too old and brittle to function anymore. This was an important piece of agricultural history and serves as an example how old technology gives way to new in all areas of our everyday lives.
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23 Jan

The Erie Haunt of the “The Homestead”

Mark / Black & White, History, North Dakota / / 0 Comments
Past the overgrown driveway of the Fort Ransom “Guarding Gate” lies “The Homestead. ” It consists of 3 full size houses, each one larger than the next. The haunted, open-air windows no longer held any glass, as only the harsh North Dakota elements and ghosts of the past now resided here.
The floors were unstable with an eerie warping of the wood which gave a surreal appears to the structures. In the smaller house parts of the floor had given way to reveal the cistern well below, as a small piano held on at the edge of the living room. One of the creepiest sights was a kitchen table set for a meal, covered with decades of dust where the resident never came back.
I almost always visited this location alone. When I discovered that under the floor of one of the houses was a cistern well with an unknown depth, I did not risk entering any of the homes. For if I fell through the floor, there would be no one coming to help.
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18 Jan

My Largest Photographic Discovery Began With “The Guarding Gate”

Mark / North Dakota / / 0 Comments

I can’t tell you about this photograph without telling you about the largest discovery I made in my hunt for abandoned and interesting places to photograph. Up to this point I did alot of driving around the back roads searching, and would occasionally find a barn here or a nice landscape shot there, with some beautiful sunrise or sunset photos for icing on the cake. Don’t get me wrong, they were wonderful to see and capture, but nothing that really intrigued me, until I stumbled upon this “Guarding Gate.”

When I first pulled up to the front of the drive way, the blast of deep greens contrasted the brown fields like a flare. The gate, as you see here, was all that was left of the front of the driveway which now was nothing more than an overgrown path. In the field to the right was an Allis-Chalmers tractor, which I later learned was a valuable antique. Behind the entrance stood 3 full size houses, 2 large barns (1 metal), sheds, chicken coops, and fences which I assumed served to coral livestock…all abandoned, the whole place, empty. Hauntingly empty. I felt like an archeologist discovering a tomb, and I suppose I was to a degree. The active life that was once here was now long past, and the only signs that remained were the objects and buildings left behind.

Over the next 6 years I would return to this place countless times, to photograph, to explore, and sometimes just to appreciate the life that was once here and how it must have looked in its hay day. This abandoned farm is where I truly transitioned from just documenting what I was finding into capturing these discoveries in creative ways to share the beauty in this forgotten place. In the coming weeks and months I’ll continue to share my photographs from this amazing place and tell the story of my exploration of this Ransom County farm.
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16 Jan

Hidden Behind a North Dakota Tree Line, I Found Where the “Wagons Rest”

Mark / History, North Dakota / / 0 Comments

Even though I very heavily focused on shooting black and white film, primarily, I did occasionally capture some subjects in color. These old dilapidated, wooden wagons were definitely the exception. The North Dakota landscape tends to have a limited color pallet out in the countryside. This is especially true in the winter months with the white snow, browns from soil and tall grass, and with everything covered by the big, blue sky. In the summer months you trade the whites for the deep, rich greens of the fields, and the bright pops of colors from the blooms of plants, but you also get some autumn colors as well. This was the condition I found where the “Wagons Rest.”

I almost missed discovering these two wagons, as they were hidden from the road by the tree line behind them. With the open plains of North Dakota, trees serve a very important purpose which may not be as important in other states. Trees there serve as a windbreak for the fields, to help protect the crops as they grow. They also serve as protection around houses from wind and storms. About the only place I saw trees naturally grow was along the shores of rivers or creeks. Everywhere else is open plains with tall grass and occasional valleys. This is why when driving along the highways I always kept a sharp eye on the tree lines, because many times they were concealing great photographic opportunities.

Farm life was very far removed from what I had been accustom to previously living in St.Louis, so finding objects like these I did not fully understand their purpose or specific use, especially at the time I captured this. Obviously, as a wagon they could served many purposes but I had later learned that wagons like these were used mostly for carrying manure to the fields. In modern times now we have much more advanced options for these tasks which don’t require livestock to pull they wagons, so that will give you some idea of how old these must be.

This was one of my earlier photos where I was still more in documenting my discoveries, than pushing my creative boundaries. However, I always liked to focus on good depth of field and the textures that subjects like the tall grass and the aged wood provide. The faded colors of the decay also offered good detail to the dimensions of the wagons, while the rusted metal offered a pop of color to offset the wood. This was another one of my photos I used to stare at and imagine the days when the wood was new.
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11 Jan

The Solid and the Shadow of “Arches” Captured at the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead, Minnesota

Mark / Black & White, Minnesota / / 0 Comments
One of my very early black and white film captures explored architecture, light, and shadow in the photograph “Arches.” This photograph was captured at the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead, Minnesota. The center first opened in 1985 and is the home of the Hjemkomst Viking ship. It is a full scale replica of the Gokstad Viking ship that was discovered in Norway in 1880.
Photo courtesy of Trip Advisor.
The building captured in my photograph “Arches” is the exterior of the Hopperstad Stave Church replica, on the grounds of the Hjemkomst Center. In the photo I wanted to captured both the actual arches and the shadows of the arches in the same photo with strong depth of field. This was one of my earlier photos experimenting with black and white film and bracketing my shots with various shutter speeds, so as to not lose the details in the light or the dark areas. This particular photograph was a strong reference point for me and my work in my development of composition and lighting.
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09 Jan

My First Low Light, Long Exposure Photograph Captured in “All Tied In”

Mark / Black & White, North Dakota / / 0 Comments

As I evolved from documentarist into artist I developed an increasing love of the black & white film format. In high school I spent a very brief amount of time learning the basic mechanics of 35mm film photography, along with film development and printing in a lab at Clayton High School in St.Louis, Missouri in the mid 1980’s. However, for the following years I actually did very little with those skills, other than taking simple snapshots and took little thought behind them.

Near a decade had gone by until I found myself hitting rock bottom, of sorts, where I longed for a mission, a creative outlet. Exploring the vast reaches of North Dakota with its landscape, big sky, and remnants of days gone by became that outlet. I acquired a copy of Photoshop 5 and began taking photos and posting on a website called “Best Photo” to get critiques of my work.

I also dug deeper into perfecting the mechanics and process of approaching and capturing subjects. Being relatively new to photography, I also bracketed my shots by shooting at a few different shutter speeds in an attempt to get just the right capture. I carried a little notebook for years, noting each shot, like a scientist constantly conducting experiments. I have always been a big fan of very depth-of-field photos, the kind that really suck you into the photo. Shooting with an aperture of f/22 with a tripod is usually my solid go-to, and certainly was back then.

With any camera I would still recommend taking notes of your shots with new photographers, because each camera has its own idiosyncrasies and understanding how things differ between your settings and your result is helpful to know. This is much like knowing the slight light and dark differences between the image you upload to an online printer, and the printed product you receive.

“All Tied In” was my first attempt at a long exposure, low light photograph on film. I wanted to be sure to capture the texture of the old wood. I also wanted to capture the texture and detail of the large collection of hay bail twain, most likely discarded over many, many years. These visual elements really told a story to me of the animals that once lived here and the hard work performed in their tending.

Years later I still find myself staring into these photos from North Dakota and imagining the lives of the people who lived and worked there. Photography is so much like a time machine or a window into the dimension of time. It bookmarks a moment and suspends it in an image we can re-visit again and again. “All Tied In” may reach back to 1998, but with its undisturbed setting it reaches back decades further.

If you’d like to purchase your own print of “All Tied In,” you can find it here. Prints are available in metal, canvas, or photographic print. Contact me directly about Limited Prints.
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