Category Archives: Photograph

The Loyalist Bonfires of Belfast, Northern Ireland

Bonfire on the Street

I recently visited Belfast, Northern Ireland to continue documentation of Eleventh Night and The Twelfth, two controversial holidays during which Protestant Loyalists build massive bonfires and parade through city streets. While Loyalists describe the events as “family friendly” cultural activities, doing so ignores their role as expressions of Protestant political power and steadfast support for Northern Ireland’s membership in the United Kingdom. Given Belfast’s ongoing conflict between the Loyalists and the Catholic Republicans who desire a politically united Ireland, the holiday activities operate as claims over the contested city.

While the political nature of the parades is somewhat buried in historical references on banners and the often unspoken lyrics of flute band songs, the bonfires unambiguously express political perspectives. Viewers need not know that the stacked pallet and tire bonfires are references to a 17th century Protestant victory over Catholics to know the political and religious stakes. In most communities, political allegiances are boldly proclaimed through flags, whether through the nearly ubiquitous flying of the Union Jack or the burning of the Irish Republic’s Tricolor, as well as through political slogans such as “KAT” (shorthand for “Kill All Taigs” [Derogatory slang for Irish Catholics]) in more aggressive districts.

As the Troubles fade and the reconciliation process continues, the City Council is attempting to facilitate a transition to a new Eleventh Night model by offering financial incentives to burn wood chip beacons in recognition of the historical victory without burning of flags and tires. Still, most Loyalist communities rebuff the subsidies not only because the beacons are fast burning and less visually stunning but because they fear loss of the tradition and the already waning youth interest in bonfire construction — and, ultimately, the political conflict in general. These communities’ perspective on the issue can be summed up by one 2012 bonfire banner: “Culture Above Cash.” When put in context, the banner could just as easily read “Politics Above Cash.”

The following bonfire photographs are selections from my recent work in Northern Ireland. I will be updating my Belfast series page with some of these images shortly. Many additional images may be viewed on flickr.

Loyalist Bonfire, ASDA

Burning the Kids' Bonfire

Massive Bonfire Through Fence

City Center Bonfire

In the Shankill

Bonfire Near the Westlink

Bonfire in the Village

Watching the Bonfire Burn

Watching the Shankill Bonfire

Detroit, Michigan

I spent last week in Detroit attending the Society of Architectural Historians‘ annual meeting, where I also had a few opportunities to continue working on my Detroit project. Selections from that work are below, followed by a few traditional architectural photographs.

Walking in the Morning

Residential Buildings at Dusk

On His Motor Bike

Down the Street

Now Burnt

Late Afternoon Snacks

Special Events $25

With Car


Fox Theatre
The Fox Theatre

Guardian Building Interior
The Guardian Building

Guardian Building Interior - Lobby
The Guardian Building

McGregor Memorial Conference Center Detail
McGregor Memorial Conference Center

The Fillmore Detroit
The Fillmore Detroit

Photographs from Another Year of Travel

Last year I compiled a list of representative photographs from many of the locations I visited in 2010. This year was similarly packed with travel, so I decided I should do it again, starting a year from when I made the last post. Nineteen U.S. metropolitan areas and Vancouver, Canada are represented, although there are a few other places I visited that I didn’t include.

A quick note about what you’ll see below: After I visit a place, I typically make a short blog post wherein I share a handful of favorite photographs from the visit. To make it easier to see those images, I’ve linked each city name to a post. Where there isn’t a post, I’ve linked the title to my full flickr set from the approximate place and labeled it with a “[f]”. You can click on any image to see a larger version of it on flickr.

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Filling the Water Tank

Colonia residents fill their portable water tank from a new well on the Pajarito Mesa, southwest of Albuquerque. The 400 family community has no public utilities, including running water, electricity or direct access to school busing for children.

Baltimore, Maryland

Perlman Place, Before and After City-Initiated Demolition

The left image was made on the first day of the Perlman Place demolition on April 16, 2010, the right on November 19, 2011. The simplified backstory is after years of neighborhood decline, a developer decided he wanted to turn this block into upmarket, renovated row houses; however, he didn’t have enough financing to make it work. The result was a stalled project, leaving the block in the state it was when pictured in the 2010. In response, the city initiated demolition. There are no immediate plans to replace the demolished units with new housing. The remaining residents are pleased that there are fewer derelict buildings to mask criminal activity, but they are terribly sad to have lost the block.

Chicago, Illinois [f]

Lake Shore Drive in the Blizzard

Cars remained stranded in the snowdrifts on Lake Shore Drive as the blizzard gusted on the morning of February 2.

Cleveland, Ohio

No Road

A closed road on Cleveland’s East Side restricts vehicular traffic from one community to another.

Dallas, Texas

Elmers Drive-In, Downtown Dallas

This convenience store is one of a few retailers nestled between bail bondsmen and other lower rent businesses near the county’s criminal justice complex. Downtown Dallas rises in the background.

Dayton, Ohio [f]

Neighbors

A historic cemetery is crammed into a busy commercial strip in south suburban Dayton.

Detroit, Michigan [f]

West Fort Appliance (After the Neighbors Turned on Their Lights)

The locally-owned West Fort Appliance is illuminated by a neighboring building in the absence of functioning streetlights in this part of the city’s southwest side.

Indianapolis, Indiana [f]

Black Friday: Best Buy Line

Late Thanksgiving night, shoppers waited to take take advantage of discount prices at a Best Buy in an Indianapolis suburb. I walked the length of the parking lot just before midnight, photographing the line’s accumulation in front of four other big box store locations. Two of the four were occupied.

Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri

Railroad Tracks, Grain Elevator, Skyline

Railroad tracks branch out into no fewer than 22 lines before converging into Kansas City, Missouri.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Walking Home

A man walks home from work through his apartment complex on the near east side of Las Vegas.

Lubbock, Texas

Oil Pump at Night

An oil pump churns through the night on the eastern edge of Lubbock, Texas. Here is a short audio recording of how it sounded.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin [f]

Sitting on His Stoop

This man moved to Milwaukee eight years ago after living in Chicago for most of his life. Tired of living in Milwaukee, he is planning on moving to Minneapolis sometime soon.

New Orleans, Louisiana

Residential Buildings, Boys on Bicycle, Falstaff

Two boys ride a bike by a shotgun house marked for demolition on a short residential street. The former Falstaff Brewery is visible on the right side of the frame.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Awesome Books

One of many stores along the burgeoning Penn Avenue Arts District, Awesome Books sells a range of secondhand books.

San Diego, California

At Play

Children play in one of the many mobile home parks located along I-5 between San Diego and the U.S.-Mexico border.

Santa Fe, New Mexico [f]

Along the Highway

A painted billboard rests outside a derelict mall along I-25 between Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Topeka, Kansas

Hanover Pancake House, McDonald's, Water Tower

Hanover Pancake House, which has served Topeka since 1969, is flanked by McDonald’s and a water tower during a February snowstorm.

Tushka, Oklahoma

Preparing the Chairs

Tushka High School students break down desks and other damaged materials following a tornado that destroyed much of the small Oklahoma town.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Regent Hotel, Union Market, Hastings Street

Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is the location of a major redevelopment effort due to its high number of boarding houses and SROs, a few of which are seen here.

Washington, D.C. [f]

Occupy D.C., Freedom Plaza

The Occupy D.C. demonstrations are located on two sites: Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square. The Freedom Plaza encampment (seen above) is adjacent to the District of Columbia’s government building and within sight of the U.S. Capitol Building.

Working Legacies: The Death and (After) Life of Post-Industrial Milwaukee

Your Company Name & Logo Here
Your Company Name & Logo Here (2011)

Since Fall 2009 historian Michael Carriere and I have been working on a project documenting a range of community and economic initiatives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

On Friday, December 16, the first public presentation of that material will open at the Grohmann Museum in Milwaukee. The exhibition, entitled “Working Legacies: The Death and (After) Life of Post-Industrial Milwaukee,” will run at the Grohmann, 1000 N. Broadway, until February 6, 2012. A Gallery Night event with the two of us will run from 5-9pm on January 20, 2012.

Additional information about the show is available in this interview on Salon. Background information can be found on The Huffington Post. An image of the exhibition and sample photographs follow.


Working Legacies: The Death and (After) Life of Post-Industrial Milwaukee
A view of “Working Legacies” at the Grohmann Museum

Foundry Worker at Falk
Foundry Worker at Falk Facility, Rexnord (2011)

Growing Power
Growing Power (2009)

House, Froedtert Malt Corporation
House, Froedtert Malt Corporation/Malteurop (2011)

Swing Bridge, Grain Elevator, River, Neon Light
Chicago and Northwestern Transportation Company Swing Bridge (2011)

Sweet Water Organics
Sweet Water Organics (2009)

Occupy Everywhere

As I’ve been traveling in the last few weeks, I’ve visited Occupy Wall Street affiliated locations in six different cities: Baltimore, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and both locations in Washington, D.C. Now that winter is approaching and Occupy locations are changing, I thought I should share a couple of photographs from each location.

I will add additional photographs here as I have occasion to visit new sites.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – Grant Park

Tax the Rich

Arrests Begin at Occupy Chicago Demonstration in Grant Park

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – McKeldin Fountain Square

Occupy Baltimore

Occupy Baltimore in McKeldin Park

CLEVELAND, OHIO – With Occupy the Hood

Occupy the Hood/Occupy Cleveland

Occupy the Hood/Occupy Cleveland

DETROIT, MICHIGAN – Grand Circus Park

Occupy Detroit

IMG_0098

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Freedom Plaza

Occupy D.C., Freedom Square
Occupy D.C., Freedom Square

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – Garden Park

With His Occupy Minneapolis Shirt

Occupy Milwaukee at Night

WASHINGTON, D.C. – McPherson Square

Occupy D.C., McPherson Square

Signs from Occupy D.C., McPherson Square

Perlman Place and Baltimore, Maryland

I recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to present at the American Society of Criminology annual meeting, around which I tacked a couple of extra days to photograph throughout D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland.

I was particularly interested in following up with Perlman Place, a row house block in Baltimore I photographed when visiting the area in 2010. The product of years of decline and a failed redevelopment project, the city planned to demolish of 67 of the approximately 80 houses on the block. Two images of Perlman Place are below: the first is from the day demolition was initiated in 2010, the second image is from Saturday.

The pair is followed by several of my other favorite images from this recent visit to Baltimore. I will share other images from Washington, D.C. later, but more images from both locations can be viewed on flickr.

Perlman Place – April 16, 2010
Perlman Place, Baltimore

Perlman Place – November 19, 2011
Perlman Place, After City-Initiated Demolition

OTHER IMAGES FROM BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

Enter to Worship

Gutting

Baltimore

Brick Harvester

Walther Hall, Man, Cats

On Her Stoop

Y & M Chinese Food Carry Out

Laundromat, Light, Man Leading

Metro Grocery Carry Out

Cleveland, Ohio

Throughout October I looked forward to my recent trip to Cleveland, Ohio. Despite regularly visiting the city throughout the 1990s, I hadn’t spent any time there in a decade. I was anxious to see how some of the neighborhoods hardest hit by deindustrialization (and other critical social dynamics) had fared since earlier visits. With that in mind, I mainly focused on the East Side and the Cuyahoga Valley, although I covered considerable ground in a few busy days.

A handful of my favorite images from the visit are below, and additional images are available on my flickr account.

Special thanks go to Jeremy Shondrick for the company and wayfaring advice.


Jack's Video Sports Bar

Piles, Cuyahoga River Bridge

Former Randall Park Mall Entrance

Rabbit Yard

No Road

Home of the Vikings

Early Methodist Church Photograph

The Pit Bar-B-Q

The Palace

The End of the Block

A Short Visit to Lubbock, Texas

I just returned from a visit to Lubbock, Texas for the opening of my show at the Texas Tech University School of Art on September 2. While my schedule at TTU kept me busy, I was fortunate enough to have some free time to explore the city along with the Director of Landmark Arts, Joe Arredondo, and TTU MFA photography students Sarah Jamison and Tom Turner. Here are a handful of favorite images from the visit. As always, additional images from the trip can be seen on flickr.

Oil Pump at Night

The Corner

Robert Bruno's Steel House

At Night on the Edge of Lubbock, Texas

Lubbock Main Center

At Night

Photographing The Bloomingdale Trail

Boys Starting a Fight

Since 2009 I’ve been working on a series of photographs documenting the Bloomingdale Trail, a disused elevated rail line in Chicago that is on its way to becoming a linear park.

I won’t complete the project until at least sometime next year, but I will be contributing six of the photographs to a large group show at the end of the month. The show, “Reframing Ruin: a Prelude to the Bloomingdale Trail,” opens from 7pm-11pm on Friday, July 29 at the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival. (More details are available on facebook.) A diverse group of people is contributing to the event, and I’m looking forward to seeing the full exhibition.

I haven’t published many photographs from this project, so I’ve included few images from the ongoing series here.


Bloomingdale Trail Entrance

IMG_9216_7

IMG_9319

Abutting the Trail

Father and Son

The Bloomingdale Trail at Night