In, Abandoned America, the author gives us a glimpse of what happens when man-made structures are left to weather the ravages of time without humans to keep them in top shape. These beautiful and eerie photographs include old schools, hospitals, theaters, factories, and churches. Slowly, everything returns to the Earth. Plaster walls crumble and tumble to the floor. Ceilings cave in and allow the wind and rain to wear down the interior of buildings. Machinery, too, rusts and falls victim to the ravages of weather and time. All manner of creatures come in and make themselves at home in the ruins of once-splendid architecture. As you can see below, these haunted photos give a a glimpse at what a post-human world would look like.
The other book of photographs, American Ballads, is a collection from country music legend, Marty Stuart.
This collection is introduced by Stuart himself. After a brief history of Stuart, his career in music and his love of photography, readers are given three distinct sections of photographs to ogle. The first section is entitled "The Masters" and includes photographs and portraits of some of the most famous names in music; especially Country Music. There are portraits of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Bill Monroe, George Jones, and Jerry Lee Lewis to name a few.
The next section is called "Blue Line Hotshots" and includes photos of every day folks from all over small-town America. These are the unsung heroes of the truck stops, county fairs, and everyday life in what some call the "fly-over states."
The final section is named "Badlands" and it contains photographs from the native peoples of South Dakota. These photos were taken over many years and many trips to visit the Pine Ridge Reservation and the Lakota.
These photos are sometimes whimsical, sometimes pensive, but all of them evoke the emotion of the subjects being photographed.
No comments:
Post a Comment