Journal
West Virginia is a coal country and one of the regions where changes in the energy industry dramatically affected the economy and the very existence of communities and towns. Some survived and are adapting to modern life, but many got abandoned and completely disappeared. Thurmond is a rare exception.
The idea of visiting Pittsburgh has been brewing in my head since last year. I just couldn't find a suitable occasion. Parks, museums, and gardens were available every day, and without time constraints the trip was being postponed over and over again. But then I came across an information about the annual Picklesburg festival and decided to go and check it out.
It is hard to tell exactly how this trip came to my mind. It was spontaneous: I woke up early on a Sunday morning, and the name randomly floated into my awakening thoughts.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal stretches for 184.5 miles along the Potomac River. Among many locks, aqueducts, and historic buildings, one feature stands out: the Paw Paw Tunnel, a 3118-foot-long passage through a mountain for towboats of the 19th century.
This year, I learned a few alternative ways to use film and decided to combine them, hoping to make something visually unusual and entertaining.
After my not-so-successful summer experiment at New River Gorge, I wanted to make another attempt and fix earlier mistakes. For the playground, I picked two photogenic locations. Despite being very different in appearance, they have a couple of things in common: both are located along the Potomac River and managed by the National Park Service.
In the middle of the summer, I became aware of an upcoming conference focused on alternative processes and large-format photography. Besides the program, the time and location were appealing: the end of October in Mexico City. I signed up.
A roll of 35mm film had been sitting in my camera half-exposed since May, and I struggled to find proper use for the rest. Then, I spooled it back into the canister and re-loaded it in my medium format camera with the help of two 3D-printed adapters.
I knew how I wanted to photograph, but I did not know what. There was a process unfamiliar to me and a place familiar, but only a little bit. Together, these two things sounded like a recipe for failure.
On historic Richmond's street, there a is house, small and neat...
What could be a better way to escape the heat of a summer day other than exploring some caverns? Walking underground is always a cool experience, in both metaphorical and literal senses.
The school spring break had already begun when my son suddenly asked me if I had planned a trip somewhere. The question caught me off guard.
Some museums hold local history, other dedicated to arts, and there are those that preserve a historic place or a landmark. Museum of the Shenandoah Valley has it all.
When it comes to travel plans, I usually settle one destination and sketch a few ideas around the place. But this time, my planning routine kept failing. So I expanded my definition of the "destination" to the whole region: the American Northeast.
The treacherous waters of the ocean off the Outer Banks has a nickname of the Graveyard of Atlantic. Many vessels found their end here, and remnants of some are still visible to those on the shore.
Yesterday morning Reston was shrouded in fog, which landed some dreamy effect on everything around. I decided to spend some time and make a photographic essay, telling a story of that transient moment.
Work duties set me off to a business trip for a few days, and I spent most of the week in Pennsylvania. The opportunity to walk on streets of Philadelphia was obvious, so I picked up my camera and started near the Independence Hall.
It is the kingdom of the sand and salty air. It is the land of natural beauty and human history. A chain of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina - this is the Outer Banks.
My Acadia trip from last year was still fresh in my memory when I decided to add a few more pages to that story.
It is hard to tell when I first learned about Acadia. One photo here, one mention there, and, eventually, it came to the point when I started consciously gather information about the park. Soon it evolved into the idea of going there and experiencing the place in person.
In the summer of 2016, I spent a few days in New York with my family. I photographed different things and came back home with a lot of images. While most of them represented a timeline of our stay, a few photographs felt a bit off.
Seeing the Great Smoky Mountains was my old dream. I often browsed online resources, looking at images of the place and jotting itineraries of my visit. And then, I found an opportunity to bring these plans to life.
Business travels are often associated with positive experiences, especially if there is an opportunity to explore some fascinating places along the way. That was exactly the case with my upcoming trip to Seattle.