Customer Reviews

Ghosts in the Wilderness: Abandoned America

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Fortunately for a lot of photographers abandoned man-made America seems to be just about everywhere and what a visual treat it produces. This handsome, large (check out the dimensions in the Product Details above) book of photos is a cut above the usual offering though. Rather than shoot the predictable broken and rusty commercialism everywhere the Worobiec's had the great idea of capturing one particular area of the Nation, the northwest. Here the railroads were the catalyst to opening up the landscape with towns created about every ten miles or so to service track and train. Predictably many of these settlements lacked natural resources and decent farmland so it was inevitable that the weather, depression, and technical advances in transport made so many of these towns uneconomic and many folk just left.

What I find amazing is the nature of the leaving. Many photos show inside abandoned houses still with kitchen units, phones, furniture and personal effects. Page sixty-five shows a wall calendar for July 1959 in a house in Wildrose, Nebraska and as the caption explains these were useful indicators to reveal the date of the owner's departure. Sometimes the Worobiec's found small schools abandoned, as the photo on page 117 shows, the floor awash with textbooks. As expected there are many photos of abandoned vehicles (possibly thirty-six was just a bit too many) surrounded by vegetation, rich pickings nowadays for collectors, I bet.

Another reason why I like this book is because 'Ghosts in the Wilderness' is not just a collection of photos but a travelogue as well, six chapters have lively and interesting essays about the social and economic aspects of the area. These words give more meaning to the poignancy of the images.

The printing and design is excellent, the photos are mostly one to a page with generous white, black and light grey backgrounds. I do have a criticism of the production though, the last five pages show all the photos as thumbnails with the relevant technical details, all this information could easily have been accommodated on the page with the photo and so avoid having to keep turning to the back.

I think the Worobiec's have done a wonderful job producing a book of regional photography. Oh yes, thank you Mark and Sarah who gave me this lovely book as a Christmas present.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

This book is nicely made, of excellent 'physical' quality and full of fantastic images. If you are looking for images with the depth and gravitas' of the Westons or Ansel Adams look elsewhere, but as a lighter form of visual interest the images do not disappoint. I have not gotten around to reading the extensive text, but it too looks well thought out and intriguing. Yes there are a lot of photographs depicting cars and some are arguably 'samey' but there are LOTS of images full stop. A fantastic (large) inspiring book that will be treasured not only by monochrome photographers but the curious adveturer type possibly considering a similar project. It certainly resonated with me. The ideal browse when I am tired of 'intense' photography and need something more casual and thinking about going 'walkabout'.

the isolation of these locations makes the pictures found within the pages of this book possible; and the talent of both photographers is outstanding. They have captured images that are both haunting and at times sad of the lives that once inhabited these locations but are now only shadows and whispers. They tell of how early towns were set up along the railroad lines and what was done to attract people to live there, and how these small towns survive today. They visit many locations from previous years to find things unchanged execpt for additional layers of dust, or that one of the old cars has been moved or sold to a collector.
Sometimes the locations have collapsed under winter snows, they document this event as well. This is a good book and well worth having in any collection.

This book is perfect for my photography "library" and exactly what I needed for a photography club presentation I am doing on Rural Abandoned America.

This book is an outstanding collection images that convey a sad story of bygone area and quickly fading slice of rural America. This book is stunning from cover to cover! It's physical size is perfect and the images are printed extremely well and are of excellent quality. What I truly enjoy about the photographs are that the were done in several formats 6x6, 6x7 etc. and are captured on photographic film. Too many books today are done in a digital format (respectively so) but they are grossly colored with horrendous printing methods. What was a huge surprise is that many of the images are hand colored and tinted which strengthens that "antique look"; These wet darkroom techniques are leaving us quickly. There is information regards photographic equipment used on pages 172-176 covers every photograph used in the book; This is very useful for photographers like myself that still shoot in medium format and use film. The wording used in the book does not overshadow the powerful images. If you are a fan on the "Hi-Line and or old American Relics this book is for you.