Westfield High School 1

Abandoned places have been a major draw for photographers since at least the 1850s when Baldus photo'd Roman ruins in France. There's something about them that catches our imagination. I'm no different. I've been shooting abandoned houses etc. since I started photography 25 years ago. My vintage cameras and lenses seem to be a great match for the subject, so I've been haunting abandoned places with them lately.

Here, I used a vintage 1942 Leica IIIc with a ~1932 Elmar 5cm lens. (This was the first interchangeable lens made for 35mm cameras.) Film was FP4. Westfield, Iowa is a tiny town that lost its school when districts combined in 1980. This is a large building built in three spurts between 1920s and early 1960s, I think. The roof has begun to disintegrate in places, so I need to hurry and get some shots before it get bulldozed. It's a little creepy being in there alone, but northwest Iowa is hardly a magnet for criminals. Also, few people are around to hassle me when it's 10 below zero. I want to go back this weekend and shoot some Efke 25 in my 4x5, using lenses from the 1850s. There are a number of abandoned schools in my area; I might make a series of them.


Kent in SD