Backroads America

[ChipMcD]

It isn't necessary to travel "backroads America" to see the effects of fifty years of neglect. Anyone from what used to be the industrial heatland (Detroit, Gary, Pittsburg, etc) knows what I mean. There's just as much to photograph there as in Grinder's Switch. Take a look at the work of David Plowden, who made it his life work to photograph just what this thread speaks to.

https://www.davidplowden.com/

Thanks for turning me on to David Plowden. I have been guided to many photographers who I would not otherwise discovered by RFFers. Probably just shows my ignorance, but it is nice to let a little extra light in on occasion.

 

[rhl-oregon]

Amen on David Plowden. Thanks indeed, Franko.

 

[Franko]

I have six Plowden books in my collection and value them highly. I just happened on my first, "The Hand of Man on America" in about 1980 in that big long-gone multi story camera store that was on the oposite side of Wabash Avenue from Central Camera in Chicago. All his books are top notch in writings as well as pictures.

 

[Dan Daniel]

xxxxxxxxxx

 

[markjwyatt]

It is not only decay. Sometimes it is change. Southern California used to be a hub of the citrus business in the USA. Times changed, people moved in, and citrus crops were turned into subdivisions. It may have been a sad history, but it is what occurred. It happened with avocados also (a little bit left). I captured this citrus house in Escondido before it was demolished and replaced with a post office. When it was constructed in the 1930s it was purported to be one of the largest in the country. A lot of history buffs wanted to save it, but the property was just too valuable, and interest in an empty citrus packing house minimal. I scanned all the negatives recently, and put them on Flickr in an album:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/markjwyatt/albums/72157718339954738/with/50956163173/


Cal Fame Conveyor Corridor by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr

 

[farlymac]

Socioeconomic upheaval has always been around. I'm the same age as RHL, and I too like to travel the back roads of Virginia, observing how the very lifeblood of small town America has been slipping away. We as a society have become consumers instead of makers, mainly because investment hawks can force companies to move production to places where it is less costly to produce the everyday things we need while raking in higher profit margins for themselves.

We are being Walmarted into oblivion so some fat cat can become even richer while folks have to work two or three jobs to buy the things they want (though not necessarily need) because all that is left are low paying service sector jobs.

Agricultural conglomerates have driven the small farmer off the land which now is worth more as expansion areas for urban sprawl, and a small operation doesn't have the diversification to weather downturns in commodities markets. It's hard to have to sit on a crop of soybeans a couple of years because it costs more to raise and transport the crop than what the market will pay for them.

I see a lot of places around that look like they are one fire away from burning the entire town/village down because the buildings are in such disrepair. I used to jump at the chance to photograph these places, but now I feel such melancholy when I drive through. It's one thing to find a falling down place out by itself, but to see a whole town looking that way is just too much.

PF

 

[Out to Lunch]

I could not suppress a chuckle when reading this quote: "Ross Perot used to say, that giant sucking sound was all of those jobs being sucked out of America through greed". Ross Perot was an early King of automation and through his company, EDS responsible for the wipe-out of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the financial, insurance, and travel industries in the USA and elsewhere. In doing so he became incredibly wealthy.

What I am missing in some of the analysis regarding the continuing decline of rural areas is the impact of automation and robotization. More jobs in the USA were lost because of these developments than from the outsourcing of jobs to low-wage countries.

Outsourcing is happening though and it's now moving up the ladder. SE Asian countries previously known for cheap garments and shoewear are now big in a variety of high-tech sectors, and not just in China. World Bank economists predict a continuing decline in the income situation of the lower and middle classes in the Northern Hemisphere while the lower and middle classes in the Southern Hemisphere will continue to prosper.

I am curious how changing post-Covid-19 working routines will impact our lives, housing, transportation, commercial real estate, etc... I am even more curious to which degree Artificial Intelligence will change the way we organize our personal and commercial activities.

Cheers, OtL

 

[Franko]

I was no fan of Perot, or any other politico of either stripe, but, for a myriad of reasons, America is reverting to a country of the haves and the have-nots. You can see it in the cities and the small towns, in the emptiness, the lack of pride and the social upheaval. Lack of purpose is a big part of the reason that the number one cash crop of many rural areas is weed, that opioids are devastating the young and home ownership where I live is becoming the impossible dream for many. The supply of abandoned infrastructure to photograph can only become bigger.

 

[JoeV]

Back to the original Guardian photo essay, the photographer apparently spent his time between NY State and the South, because the best “decay porn” subject matter is west of the Mississippi.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Fifty years ago, almost every small town in America, especially in the south, had a textile mill, farming co-op, machine shop etc that allowed a subsistence level living for residents. As Ross Perot used to say, that "giant sucking sound" was all of those jobs being sucked out of America through greed, a desire for more profit through less involvement and cost. So now, small town America just isn't viable as a place to survive, especially with a family. I started taking pictures of that way of life back then because it was clear that all I knew growing up was being pushed aside.

Same for Canada and Russia. In Russia due to longer existence of population, you could see decoy of five hundred years old structures and fifty years old.
Just drive 100km from Moscow.

To be honest "it has do be photographed before it desapeared" has zero interest in massively changing demographics and careless for history politicians. It is motivation for photography for some. Nothing else.

Before c19 I joined local hystory society meetings. True local history. Fascinating. But... Most are old locals. Only couple of newcomers like me. Who have taste for times of true sustainable living in country they come.

 

[farlymac]

Back to the original Guardian photo essay, the photographer apparently spent his time between NY State and the South, because the best “decay porn” subject matter is west of the Mississippi.

He's never been to Springwood, VA then.

PF


Note: After finally looking at the article (yeah, I know) maybe the photographers did pass close to Springwood, VA (maybe JoeV meant east of the Mississippi). Especially if they traveled down US-11. The "Harris Place" photo reminds me of a series of photos I've taken of these "front porch" style service stations over the years I've lived in Virginia, hoping to make a book of them someday.

 

[jarski]

...I am curious how changing post-Covid-19 working routines will impact our lives, housing, transportation, commercial real estate, etc...

same here. am hopeful remote working will be more widely adopted than before, least on those industries that do not require physical presence. less traffic and commuting. now everyone is sick of the social isolation and hoping quick end of it, but at the same time we are being inadvertedly "educated" to new ways of doing things. younger generations especially.

 

[35photo]

A form of disaster porn. I've been on these type of roads over the last decade many a time. Towns are deserted, broken, collapsing, emptied. Some places look like a neutron bomb went off a decade before. Broken culture, broken people. 'Vernacular' is a loaded term here; didn't Venturi et al use it in 'Learning from Las Vegas'? Collapse and ruin is more like it. The vernacular today is McDonalds and mobile homes and Walmarts and McMansions

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/05/the-view-from-the-back-row

https://mcmansionhell.com/

Thanks for the link. Although it set me off on a tangent, some nice photos of interesting buildings.

aka Ruin Porn.... In other words nothing special...

 

[Dogman]

Everything falls apart eventually. Everything becomes ruins. I very much liked the photos.