Yellow Dog Village, Worthington PA. November 2024

I’ve recently been exploring a personal project.  It’s actually hard to say when it started because, as often happens with personal work, it was an evolution of curiosities that lead me here when one day I realized “oh, these all connect!”

I’ve written many times in the past about photography related topics.  Shooting artwork, better understanding cameras functions, and how I use photo concepts in planning my paintings are some that come to mind.  Photography was purely functional for me as I was beginning in illustration.  It was just a way to gather reference and deliver final art to clients.  Over time, I started taking more interest in photography as its own contained artform.  Removing the hard practical needs of my painting workflow allowed me to explore whatever simply seemed interesting, fun, or challenging.  And eventually that brought me back to analog tools and processes, where it seems my heart always ultimately wants to go.

Jump ahead several years and I had my first opportunity to visit an “abandoned” building as a photo subject.  I put quotes on abandoned because a small section of the building (the JW Cooper School in Shenandoah PA) was being used as a local food pantry and the owners allowed paid visits to support those efforts.  It took me a year or two after learning about the place to go.  I’m not sure why I waited.  I was very eager, but wasn’t sure what to expect and wasn’t sure what I was trying to get out of it.  But I was curious, and it sounded interesting, and so I eventually made arrangements.

J.W. Cooper School, Shenandoah PA, March 2023

J.W. Cooper School, Shenandoah PA, March 2023

I showed up on an icy March morning and was let in, given some basic ground rules, and then left completely alone.  For the next four hours, I wandered and explored and photographed.  I was deeply feeling it.  I’ve since noticed when I do these shoots, my sense of things is different while I’m working.  You might call it a flow state.  I don’t notice I’m hungry, tired, hot, cold, anxious, or any other discomfort until I’m finishing up.  Twice now I’ve done nine hours straight on my feet carrying 20 pounds of gear and, while I’m in it, that stuff doesn’t much matter.

Yellow Dog Village, Worthington PA. November 2024

After that first experience, I started seeking out other places that would grant access.  I was interested in spaces in transition, fallen into disrepair, or even just places meant for people but absent of any people.  On a visit to an empty mining village in Western Pennsylvania, I was setting up a shot in an old house when a large chunk of the ceiling crashed to the floor right in front of me.  It was that moment that drove home that these places are temporary.  That all places are temporary.  In planning a return to the JW Cooper School, I learned that the building had collapsed.  Twice I’ve showed up at near-dead shopping malls and found they had been leveled.  An entire 90 acre park in South Philly that was an oasis to me during Covid has been raised to the ground to make way for soccer fields.  Many of the places I’ve been to for this project simply don’t exist anymore.

Mount Moriah Cemetery, Philadelphia PA. January 2022

And this was how I found the project.  That “Nothing Lasts Forever.”  As I continue forward, I’m mindful of how this can relate in so many ways.  I no longer question why I’m compelled to take a photo of every payphone I stumble upon or what it is that is so interesting about crumbling, vine covered buildings.  I see this all under the umbrella of connecting with places and things which seem obsolete.  They may not be here tomorrow.

And so I’ve continued seeking out and visiting places of interest and looking for this quality in the spaces around me.  Perhaps it’s a reaction to a changing world or perhaps it’s just me getting older.  Whatever the case, I find the whole thing fascinating.

See more at Nothing Lasts Forever or visit my Flickr

Cresson State Prison, Lilly PA. May 2025

Cresson State Prison, Lilly PA. May 2025

Cresson State Prison, Lilly PA. May 2025

Cresson State Prison, Lilly PA. May 2025

Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park PA. May 2025

Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park PA. May 2025

Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park PA. May 2025

South Mall, Allentown PA. June 2025

Pennhurst State School, Spring City PA. July 2025

Pennhurst State School, Spring City PA. July 2025

KNY Family Fitness Center, Altoona PA. July 2025

Yellow Dog Village, Worthington PA. November 2024

Harrisburg State Hospital, Harrisburg PA. December 2024