Category: History

29 Feb

On a Forgotten Farm Where One Car Have “Gone to Pieces”

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

The past several photos I shared from the old swamp full of abandoned vehicles, near the Fort Ransom County farm in North Dakota had a few things in common, they were mostly whole. The remains of this car is not the case and has certainly “Gone to Pieces.” The tall grass definitely takes up a majority of the photo, with only parts of the vehicle sticking out from below. They are truly nested and over grown within the grass, creating a stark contrast in textures.

The second vehicle in the background hints to how it could have appeared before. I photographed everything with a tripod, 100 ISO black & white film and f22, because I wanted to capture every detail clearly, from the background to every blade of grass.
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27 Feb

Enjoying the View From “Behind the Wheel”

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

This photograph captured at the abandoned Fort Ransom County farm continued my study of the swamp of abandoned vehicles behind the farm. The unusual perspective of the dashboard “Behind the Wheel” of this old Chrysler minus the interior roof and door created a vision of this out-of-place view of their expected norms.

The challenge of this shot was to capture most of the dark place beneath the dashboard, while maintaining the detail but not blow out the light colored tall grass behind it. I learned early on, especially with shooting film, the value of bracketing photos with slight changes in camera settings in order to find the one shot that lights the subjects perfectly.
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22 Feb

My Eerie Fascination With My Photograph “Overgrown”

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

This particular photograph is by far my favorite of all the photos I captured at the abandoned Fort Ransom County,  North Dakota farm. This old classic car left empty and abandoned truly epitomizes all the vehicles I found there, buried in the tall grass like a relic from a time long past.

The smooth black metal created a high contrast to the rough, faded grass surrounding this old car. Apart from the physical details of the image, it also seems to tell a story and sparks the imagination like most classic cars do. What did the car look like when it was new? Was it some young person’s first car?

This photo always reminded me of the Stephen King movie “Christine” about a demon-possessed car that look much like this one. To me, there was always some sort of eerie and haunting sense about this photograph that continues to instilled a curiosity, even 25 years later. Some photographs can really stick with you years later, and this one does with me.
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20 Feb

The Haunted Discovery and Capture of “At a Dash”

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

A good distance behind the abandoned Fort Ransom County farm I discovered in North Dakota, I found a somewhat mysterious collection of abandoned vehicles in a swamp. The cars were is various degrees of being catabolized for parts and buried in the North Dakota tall grass.

Some of my favorite photos from this farm are from this area. I always found this discovery stunning and apocalyptic. “At a Dash” captures this dashboard of an old Chrysler surrounded by the light shaded dried grass of the field and swamp area. There was almost a haunted nature to this area and I tried to capture that aspect on my black & white film.
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19 Feb

In Honor of ‘Presidents Day,’ Some Photos From My Trip to Washington DC

Mark / Architecture, History, Photojournalism / / 0 Comments

In March of 2008 I had the privilege to shadow 4 buses of middle school kids on their Easter weekend tour of Washington D.C. During this trip I had the chance to see some of the sights, while photographing their trip for a client. In honor of Presidents Day, I wanted to share a few of my photographs from the trip. Unfortunately, I did not travel with a tripod. I wish I had.

On Easter morning in 2008 we were able to witness the ‘changing of the guard’ at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. You could have heard a pin drop during the reverent moment. Being a U.S. Army veteran, I was greatly appreciative of the opportunity to personally witness this event.

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15 Feb

No Farm is Complete Without the “Field Workers” Waiting for That Next Season

Mark / History, North Dakota / / 0 Comments

Another visit to the Fort Ransom farm in the spring found these two farm implements abandoned in the field. I believe these were used to gather the cut straw in the fields to form into bails. They could have been pulled by either horses or a motorized tractor.

The deep green grass contrasting the big blue sky is quite common in the spring and summer in North Dakota. Match that with the rusted metal slicing the photograph into sections, and you have a farm scene with depth of field.
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13 Feb

The “Old Coral” in the Spring While the Tall Grass is Still Green

Mark / History, North Dakota / / 0 Comments

On one misty morning, the “Old Coral” at the abandoned Fort Ransom County farm presented some beautiful deep green grass. It also contrasted those colors with the rust colored mold and decay on the old wooden fences of the coral. Though most of the farm I capture in black and white, some images really deserve color in order to do this unique subject real justice.

Like I had mentioned previously the expanse of the operation of this farm was impressive. There was a large coral, obviously for livestock like maybe horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, etc. It was a real joy to find and to return to this location again and again. I captured the image low, as if through the eyes of a child growing up on the farm, watching all the animals.
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08 Feb

A “Sleeping Giant” at the End of Its Road

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

Before North Dakota I really only took pretty straight forward, simple tourist type photographs with my 35mm film camera. Occasionally, I’d shoot people, like family on a vacation or something like that. I did go through a period of photographing foreign and exotic sports cars on the street in St.Louis in the mid 1980’s when I was in high school. However, this was very far removed from those days.

These relics of an age long past were fossils of steel and glass, and instinctively I thought it important to capture them where they lay. In the big sky sun resting in the tall grass, there was a tranquil silence to them. There were other vehicles I captured in their final position, but this “Sleeping Giant” was the first. The motorized workhorse now at peace.
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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.

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