Month: March 2022

Avenue One

Posted on Posted in Facades, Urban SprawlTagged , , 4 Comments

Avenue One is a new development in West Omaha that promises to cover 50 square blocks of old farmland with a variety of housing and commercial space. Signs advertising this new development adorn trailers along Dodge near 192nd Street atop its eventual home. A girl the size of a billboard seems to be broadcasting the possibilities. Bring your new family to a new home.

The signs got me thinking. Who will inhabit these new converted farmlands on the edge of town? Who are the intended residents? Who won’t be living here? And further: What does the loss of farmland—which was prairie before that—mean? What does it mean that existing homes in the older core of Omaha are decaying while we build new ones further out?

With the addition of this photo, I’m also retiring the old working title for my Omaha work Omaha Gothic. It never really fit. For now, I’m renaming this series Facades.

Trailer sitting on a wide grassy lot. The trailer reads "Avenue One" in large letters and features an image of a white girl.
Omaha, NE. March 19, 2022.

March 13, 2022

Posted on Posted in Facades, UrbanTagged , , 4 Comments

The old industrial yards off I480 south of Leavenworth have always caught my attention, so I decided to finally check them out. I didn’t find anything anything extraordinary, but these two photographs are possible additions to Omaha Gothic.

Side of an orange brick building with yellow capital lettering at the top that reads, "USED BUILDING MATERIALS." A billboard looms above adjacent to blue sky.
Omaha, NE. March 13, 2022.
Doorway into a brick building. The doorway has a thick white frame that has a triangle shape on top. There is a shadow a fence on the walkway that approaches the door.
Omaha, NE. March 13, 2022.

June 18, 2021

Posted on Posted in Facades, Nebraska, UrbanTagged ,

This remains one of my favorite photos from my time in Omaha. I can’t quite pinpoint why, but here are some ramshackle thoughts. I’ve always been drawn to isolated objects and this definitely one: an old lone truck in a vacant lot. I like how the whole scene frames the truck with some mirroring that doesn’t quite match up. The trees sort of mirror the building; the cement kinda mirrors the sky. The no parking sign sort of mirrors the City View sign in the background. And in the middle of it all, an off-kilter parked pickup.

This is one of those photos that will probably always bother me. I’ve never quite been happy with the post-processing. Is it too blue? Too orange? I’ve hit my head against the wall and at some point you just have to give up. This one’s going in Omaha Gothic.

Black pickup truck sits on grass in an abandoned lot with buildings and trees behind.
Omaha, NE. June 18, 2021.

Ode to Sad Disco

Posted on Posted in Rural America, UrbanTagged ,

Mid February in Fremont, Nebraska. A place that has ghosts. If you believe in that sort of thing, anyway.

This group of photos is for Mark Lanegan, who passed away as I was working on these images. Fremont looks like his voice sounds. A baritone that is full of years. Many of them hard. Yet there’s a triumph in his darkest lyrics and melodies that will haunt me forever in the best of ways. Here’s to you, Mr. Lanegan. “Here I have seen the light.” Indeed.

View down a street to a grain silo and railcars. A brick building is on the right with a US flag on the end.
Fremont, NE. February 13, 2022.
A large blue and green circular storage container sit under a blue sky. Orange cones dot the foreground in front.
Fremont, NE. February 13, 2022.
Brick building painted dark yellow behind a road. A sign on one end reads, "Drop off Laundry." A billboard stands behind on the right.
Fremont, NE. February 13, 2022.
View down a paved road with a grain silo at the end. An electric pole looms in the foreground.
Fremont, NE. February 13, 2022.