Coal Town USA

[giganova]

This week I went on a 6-hour drive to West Virginia to see coal towns with my own eyes. What I found were beautiful landscapes and wonderful people who are trying to deal with the decline of the coal industry and mass unemployment.

All pictures taken with M4, 50/2 Summicron "Rigid", 35/2.8 Summaron, and 21/3.4 Super Angulon on FP4.

This lady started to cry when she told me about the night the hotel and theatre burned down:

"You should make a picture of me, I'm the only interesting thing in town!", Randall

"We used to have 16 churches, now we have one." coal miner Butch

 

[giganova]

"We're just sitting here all day long and wait for people to die", Larry (right) and Robert

Abandoned coal mine gift shop:

Abandoned shopping mall:

 

[Brad Bireley]

Wonderful series!

 

[MCTuomey]

Wonderful series!

Exactly! Loved it ... well done.

 

[giganova]

Thank you!

 

[dogberryjr]

Poor old McDowell County. Nice work.

 

[giganova]

Those places don't do well in street photography, the photographer really has to go deeper.
...Go back.

Thanks for the negative feedback.

 

[rhl-oregon]

Inspiring, admirable, plaintive, neighborly. A lesson for anyone who's unsure whether a long trip is worth the trouble to use his/her camera in a selfchallenging way. Hope to see more.

 

[Baipin]

Fantastic work, you've captured something that goes beyond just the image and you've done it well.

 

[Vince Lupo]

Thanks for the negative feedback.

I'd probably agree with photomoof's comment that you should go back -- how long did you spend there? Are the people shots from one particular town in McDowell County? Judging by the relatively consistent light throughout all the photos you have here, it looks like they were taken in a single afternoon (though I could be wrong).

Maybe if you do go back (and back again), you'll get to know people and they'll get to know you (and thereby build that all-important element -- trust). Then, you might be invited to some more intimate events and get introduced to other townspeople, and they'll feel like you're doing something for them.

Guess it all depends on how well you want to get to know your subject and how 'deep' you want to go -- who knows, this could turn into a life's work for you.

 

[giganova]

I agree 100%, but you won't be invited into people's homes, work places, churches, etc, and get permission to take photos if you only stay for three days, which is all the time I had. I think it would take weeks to form the kind of personal bonds that opens doors to the private lives of the locals. I did the best I could in three days and had long conversations with many people, which was a real eye opener and changed my perception of the coal towns and the people there. The locals were incredibly friendly and welcoming, and almost every conversation ended with “Thanks for visiting!”, but in the end I ran out of time.

The first thing that I noticed when I arrived was how amazingly beautiful the scenery in McDowell County is. Yes, there are abandoned buildings and sometimes entire villages, but you have to look for it. Quite honestly, it wasn't that much different from other rural areas in the US I have been. And the decline is not a recent phenomena, it’s been happening for decades, accelerated over the past few years by cheap gas & oil. One coal miner said: "The coal towns of WV are exactly like the gold rush towns in the West, or what is currently happening with oil in in Texas. Boom & bust!"

I might go back next week for a few days again, but I dread the 6-hours drive to get there. Plus, on my way back I drove through a sofa (!) in the middle of the highway at 80 mph and have to get my car fixed first.

 

[giganova]

 

[giganova]

 

[x-ray]

Excellent work!

My early years were in a small coal and oil town. You captured the essence very well and handled it very well. You allowed the people to preserve their dignity.

Well done.

 

[Paulbe]

Great pix! Thanks so much for posting...
Paul

 

[daveleo]

Very nice work, and I admit that I never drove 6 hours just to make pictures. If you can, I hope you get back there and gather up more native commentary.

 

[Keith]

All great but that very first pic of the bridge is special. Thanks for posting these. 🙂

 

[giganova]

All great but that very first pic of the bridge is special. Thanks for posting these. 🙂

That's funny, Keith, I almost didn't take this picture because the bridge is such a cliché of WV! However, I loved the light (this is shot right against the sun) and how the lens (50/2 Summicron "rigid") rendered it. There really is something special about old Leica glass, they are razor sharp but bright areas tend to "bleed" into darker areas, giving it a slight soft, mysterious look.

 

[rfaspen]

I didn't see a photo of the sofa.... I'd like to see that too.

 

[giganova]

I didn't see a photo of the sofa.... I'd like to see that too.

The sofa is in a million little pieces on I-81 after I drove straight through it at 80mph. Thank god my car has one of these faulty airbags that didn't go off, otherwise I couldn't have continued my drive back home! 😀