Gary, Indiana

Yes, it's relatively super-dangerous. I know, Dad, and thanks for worrying; that's what Dads are for. But Crystal sent me links to some great photos of Gary that really got me excited. And she lives in Chicago (45ish minutes away), and I was passing through Chicago on my way from SF to London, so...Gary is a city that was founded by a company (bizarre?), the US Steel Corporation, in 1906. When things went south for the company in the 60's, people were laid off, and without any alternative job opportunities, they abandoned the city quickly and in droves (taking the population from over 200,000 to under 100,000). Homes, offices, and other buildings were abandoned as well as there wasn't exactly anyone else moving in. In the 90s there was a wave of arson that further damaged the abandoned buildings, and this was just a part of the general crime increase. Gary was ranked the 10th-most-dangerous US city in 2006 and appears to have been quite proud of its descent on that list to...17th-most-dangerous US city in 2007.All of this means that there are some amazing, old, abandoned-but-never-demolished buildings that one can walk right into. With a camera this is simply astounding. Crystal, Kris, and I spent the entire day in two places: a big church and the old post office. To say that this experience was "creepy" would be a vast understatement. To say that it was "awesome" would be the same. Who cares about creepiness when there's amazing stuff in every direction?Following are a few shots, but please have a look at all of my favorites or the entire album.We went to the church first, which was HUGE. Giant sanctuary; very awesome. But I found I was more into some of the details, and most of all, the crazy, crazy light.I fell in love with a folding chair that was next to a fireplace. The purple/blue squares here are lens flare; I liked it.Shooting from up in what may have been a choir loft with my Lensbaby, I got a view of the loft on the other side. I can feel what it might be like to stand there...the Lensbaby is great for that kind of thing.Upstairs, I forgot all about the folding chair and fell in love with this orange chair, which is so fancy it has its own Flickr group.Then we traipsed over to the Post Office. This building clearly had a lot more organic material in it, because the floor was mossy and the peeling paint was ahhhhhhhhmaaaaaazing.I experimented with shooting through some red plastic that I found at an earlier shoot and hung onto.There were old computers on the floor; in between them a tree was growing in the middle of the room......and an old TV propping a door open......and the number 9!Again, beautiful, soft, varied light.And of course, a lock, one of my favorite subjects.And as a bonus, here's a shot Crystal took through a window of me shooting who knows what.