The largest forest fire in 33 swept across northern Wisconsin May 14th and 15th. The Wisconsin DNR reported that the fire consumed 8,131 acres of forest land across Douglas and Bayfield Counties. The DNR reported 47 structures have been lost, including 17 homes, 15 garages, nine out buildings and six unknown. Firefighters have saved 77 structures, including 42 houses. By the time I made into the area near town of Gordon, 95% of the fire was contained with only small spots of smoke rising from the scorched landscape. There was absolutely nothing left of the structures that burnt down but I was amazed by the number of homes that were saved. The homes that were saved were completely surrounded by charcoaled trees and grasses. The utility companies had many power boxes replaced with new ones even though trees were still smouldering nearby. The speed in which everyone came together to fight the fire and recover from it was amazing. Even more amazing was that there were no fatalities. As I documented the fire zone, I came across many razed structures, ruptured fuel tanks, a leaking propane tank, burnt out vehicles, melted aluminum boat, just to name the major things. I focused my camera to document the destruction that this massive forest fire left in its wake along with the beauty of the scorched landscape ready to start new.

You can buy prints from this Forest Fire Photo Series Here.

Years later, the historic Henry Van Hovenberg House downtown Eau Claire on Lake Street has been rebuild, now with yellow peaks.  The house caught on fire on a cold and snowy Valentines Day night in 2010. I am glad they were able to rebuild this home over losing one of the few historic homes left in Eau Claire. Here is the photo set from that cold Valentines Day night. http://www.dewitzphotography.com/eau-claire-wi-photographer/eau-claire-historic-home-burns-down-on-a-snowy-valentines-day-night/

My last post with of my Top 10 Railroad Photography Books for Photographers was 100% based on my own collection of railroad books which I have recently added to. In that collection I have many railroad books that span topics such as documentation, history, photography, locations, specific railroads, etc. As a railroad photographer, I find myself gravitating towards the books in my collection that have amazing and inspiring images. That Top 10 Railroad Photography Book List received many comments from well-respected railroad photographers suggesting books that I may be interested in that they have in their collections. Some of these books included in the comments were, A Time of Trains, Wheat Kings, Starlight on the Rails, Trackside Maryland, The Mohawk That Refused To Abdicate, Boston & Maine, The Call of Trains, Requiem For Steam, Rails, Night Train, Northern Light, The Electric Way across the Mountains, Never on Wednesday, and Rites of Passage: A Canadian Railway Retrospective. So I searched Amazon for some of these titles and picked a few of the suggested books up plus added a few others I found that I thought would be good. This supplement includes 10 more railroad photography books that I think are worth buying to add to your own collection.

The Electric Way Across the Mountains by Richard Steinheimer

Don’t let the cover of this book fool you. I would never buy this book based on the cover but it is well worth the price for your collection. The book is a mix of documentary photography and incredible (artistic) photographs. If you like mountains, Steinheimer, or the Milwaukee Road, you should own this book.  Read Customer Reviews

Growing Up With Trains II by Richard Steinheimer and Ted Benson

I would also recommend this book. It isn’t one of my favorites but is full of many great railroad images. It is an older book, so the print reproduction isn’t the greatest. I also do not like the small images with some pages containing up to three images. I think the book would have been stronger if 25% of the images were excluded leaving more room for the stronger compositions.  Read Customer Reviews

Portrait of the Rail by Don Ball, Jr.

If you can get this book at the right price, go for it. There are stellar images in this book but there are many more roster type compositions in between the shots that count. Just because I’m not a roster shot type of guy, don’t let this review discourage  those that are, this book would be well worth adding to your collections.   Read Customer Reviews

Requiem for Steam by David Plowden

Do you like railroad photography? Do you like art? Well, if you answered yes to both of those questions, you will love this book. Amazing photographs, artistic compositions and vision. This is a large and thick book that you will have to make room for on your bookshelf if you claim to love railroad photography.  Read Customer Reviews

Backwoods Railroads of the West by Richard Steinheimer

I would love to see this book reprinted with todays printing and paper quality. The great imagery of Steinheimer still shines through even the page quality is lacking and dull. Richard has captured many scenes of small steam locomotives working the grades of mountainous landscapes. The book is a mixed bag of many different subjects and locations.    Read Customer Reviews

The Last Steam Railroad in America by O. Winston Link

Do you love O. Winston Link’s famous steam works? This book isn’t that. I feel the images in this book far surpass his well-known photographs. The book is a must have for any steam locomotive fan filled with scenes of the past. This book also a large selection of his color photographs as well.    Read Customer Reviews

A Time of Trains by David Plowden

A book full of railroad scenes of the past that many of us would die for to see in person. Many of you I am sure have purchased a DeLorean  and filled the trunk with garbage in an attempt to try to get there once you hit 88 mph. Many of you are laughing to yourselves right now since this idea has at least crossed your mind.  Read Customer Reviews

Wheels Rolling – West by Dave Styffe and Ted Benson

If you like railroading of the west, Ted Benson, or you know Dave Styffe, you need to own this book. Great images, and great reproduction for an older book. The only thing I wish was different in a perfect world would be a larger format for me to fall even deeper into these images.   Read Customer Reviews

Rio Grande Secret Places Series by R.C. Farewell

The best book series you could own if you love the Rio Grande or their ex-routes through Colorado and Utah. I own Volume One: The Tunnel District and Volume Two: Ruby Canyon and the Desert. Volume Two is my favorite of the two photographically speaking. These books are full great images, maps, and incredible images.   Read Customer Reviews

Outbound Trains by Jim Boyd

Do you miss the very colorful era of railroading before all of the mergers. This book will bring tears to your eyes then as most of the color photographs in this book are of railroads that are no longer with us. Full of freight and passenger trains and mainly all diesel locomotives but a few steam locomotives are included.   Read Customer Reviews

What is your favorite railroad photography book? I would love to know!

Just leave it in the comment section below.

My railroad photography website and link to my latest railroad photos are at www.therailroadcollection.com/latest-works.

I grew up here and I have lived in the area my entire life. I’m numb to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I take the same roads and streets day in and day out. Everything looks the same, the landscape is just plain and stale to me. Cookie cutter homes pop up in every opening they can find. The most exciting change I see here is when a fast food chain or gas station gets a facelift. Nothing here to see, nothing here to photograph.

I go and shoot the unique and amazing places that I come across all over the United States when I can. I’m drawn to unique places, places with buildings that actually seem to have a soul, that have life to them. I have a fascination for ruins and abandoned places or even entire towns. Places like Detroit that have very unique architecture and ruins all in one place or just devastated cities  like Braddock and Gary. Both which had huge population collapses which were greatly affected by the steel industry.  Then there is the almost surreal mountain hollows of West Virginia filled with history, life, decay, and coal. All of these places seem so much more interesting and filled with stories and historic importance than Eau Claire. I love Eau Claire. I know that there is much more to Eau Claire then a few main roads lined with commercial stores, fast food joints, and gas stations between point A and point B. When you live somewhere for your entire life, that is what it becomes.  A blur of nothing special, day in and day out. Same roads, same routes, same places, same buildings. Back and forth I drive seeing what I saw the day before and the year before that. You need to escape the city limits just for a look at something different, something new to you, someplace that can open your eyes again.

I thought deeply about my drive to explore places across the country to get that rush of new to me feelings. Being able to capture and share what I found. I thought about how the people who live and grew up in towns and cities I visit must see feel the same way I feel about Eau Claire. I’m sure they must think exactly the same thoughts I have about my hometown, a blur of nothing special, day in and day out. I thought about how most of the comments and feedback on my photographs of these places are all from outsiders, people who have maybe just driven through once or twice, people who moved away long ago and have not been back since. It’s different to them. It isn’t different to those that live there and have always lived there. That is the difference.

Have you ever been driving down the road in the city where you live and saw something that caught your eye? You think to yourself, Is that new? I’ve never seen that before. When did that change? You look over and ask the person next to you, do you remember that? They then respond back, that has been there forever, as long as I can remember. That is an incredible feeling. So I set out to photograph that feeling. I went out with my camera to capture Eau Claire like it was my first day there. I found and photographed as many unique areas, homes, businesses, and building that I could. I drove off my normal A to B routes to find all the amazing parts of Eau Claire that I could. I want you, the residents of Eau Claire to see these images and experience that “How did I miss that feeling” about your city. I want you to be completely amazed that these places exist within the city limits and you somehow missed them. I want to make Eau Claire new to you again.

Locations and Addresses Omitted for Privacy

I also wanted to add a little bit of history about origins of the city of Eau Claire. Named after the river, Eau Claire translates from french meaning Clear Waters. It is thought that french explorers traveling down the rain muddied Chippewa River came upon the clear water of the what is now the Eau Claire River. Eau Claire was founded in 1845 at this confluence of the Chippewa and Eau Claire Rivers and is now the 9th largest city in the state.  Present day Eau Claire was originally three separate cities. The second was formed near the present day courthouse and was known as West Eau Claire. Further down the Chippewa River, Daniel Shaw & Co. lumber company founded Shawtown, which was annexed by the 1930s. At one point in history, Altoona was known as East Eau Claire but was changed so there was no confusion between the railroad stations that existed. Nicknamed Sawdust City, Eau Claire was in the center of the Wisconsin lumber industry.  More than 75 sawmills and factories were making everything from furniture to electric motors by 1890. There was even a log flume built from the Chippewa River dam below Dells Pond that ran along the cliff side of the Chippewa River and then cut across under the city and into Halfmoon Lake. Dells Pond and Halfmoon Lake were both used as log storage ponds for the timber that was felled from northern forests along the Chippewa. The lumber industry collapsed at the turn of the 20th century.  Education and tires  fueled the local economy in the 1900′s. The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire opened in 1916 and the Gillette Tire Company opened in 1917. From 1917 to 1992, the tire plant, which was bought by U.S. Rubber in 1931 and renamed Uniroyal, was the city’s largest employer and one of the world’s leading producers of automobile tires.

Photos from this Eau Claire photography series may be purchased here.

Buy the book! $43.79

Unseen and His…

By Travis Dewitz

Book Preview

114 pg. | Softcover | 10X8

You may also like Eau Claire Fire Station 10

A Black and White Photographic Study

Imani is a child model that is on the move up. I have photographed Imani at two separate photo shoots and I hope to have the pleasure of working with her again. She is amazing to work with and has a look that fits my photography style very well. She is 7 years old and was just in the latest Kohl’s national print ad and TV ad campaign. One of my photos of her has also just won a contest for Child Model Magazine’s In Style Model Search in which she will be featured for the Child Style section of Child Models BIG Summer Dreams Issue.

• Magazine - Child Model Magazine
• Model - Imani
• Photographer – Travis Dewitz
• Wardrobe –  Alexandria Olivia Custom Children’s Boutique
• Necklace -  Livie’s Loves
• Location – Heartland Aviation in Eau Claire, WI

Here is a short bio about Imani from her mother~

Imani has only been a child model since late last Fall. She has been quite fortunate to participate in several editorial shoots across the country, did her first runway already, shot her first National TV ad campaign, has a callback for a short film (still pending) and more editorial shoots, fashion shoot and a runway show on the calendar in the next few months! Imani is represented and models for Wilhelmina Modelogic Midwest out of Chicago. She is in her 5th year of dance which includes Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Classic Ballet, Hip-Hop, Performance Dance & Poms. She’s been performing since age 3 and loves it! Imani’s in 1st grade and loves school. When not acting “girly-girl” she loves drawing, flying kites, running around and acting silly. Imani has an outgoing personality and is definitely NOT shy…she is loved immensely by those around her and freely gives it back. She adores her big brother (age 30) and he’s her role model. As an adopted child at an early age she loves to share her “story” as she calls it with others waiting to be adopted and in the foster system to “help them feel better” as she says. Imani has been a tremendous and very caring big sister to several foster siblings and has a huge heart! She has overcome some physical obstacles in her short life, but she’s a very strong and confident little girl who would be as comfortable with being dressed in silk and fancy clothes and pretty hair at the same time as playing in the backyard while catching frogs! Imani hopes to create fashion designs and to become a famous professional model as an adult. She already draws fashion clothing and bows/flowers that she likes to go with the dresses to complete the look. And of course, as most little girl models she hopes and talks of one day “making it big”. In the meantime, she’ll continue her modeling and being the super daughter, sister and friend that she already is today. She’s loved tremendously and shows it in return by her caring, gentle ways!

1. What is the Hollow project about?
Hollow is an interactive documentary and community participatory project that focuses on the residents in McDowell County, West Virginia. When it launches in late May, Hollow will combine short documentary videos, photography, interactive data, soundscapes and user-generated content on a HTML5 website. Hollow strives to bring attention to rural issues, encourage trust among the community and become a place where they can share ideas for the future.

2. How did this projects start and what is the goal?
I came up with the idea of Hollow in 2009 after reading the book “Hollowing Out the Middle,” an account of a midwestern town experiencing rural brain drain and youth exodus. I related to the stories and case studies in the book and started looking at out-migration numbers in my home state of West Virginia. I came across a list of dying and revived towns throughout the state and found it alarming that the 10 incorporated towns in McDowell were all on the dying list. Over the past six decades, the county has witnessed a steady out-migration with the loss of nearly 80,000 residents. I also felt that McDowell County had been unfairly portrayed by the state, national and international media. Yes, they are facing some very serious issues–high teen pregnancy rates, generational poverty, unemployment and prescription pill overdose–but I knew there was more to the story. I knew that there were residents behind the scenes that felt they had no way to get their story out there with all the negative press that dominates headlines. I moved to McDowell last summer and worked with the individuals who are trying to make an impact. I focused on the people trying to solve the problems, rather than further exploiting the issues. I interviewed nearly 70 individuals and trained over 20 people on how to shoot their own stories. It was important to me that the community claim ownership of Hollow and see it as an outlet to share their story. Even though we collected nearly a hundred stories, one project can’t fully detail the complex past and present of McDowell County. The project was named Hollow because it is a word many Appalachians relate to as being “home.” We pronounce it “holler” but many people live up a hollow, also known as a valley between two mountains. I wanted to explore the idea of the hollers hollowing out; or the hollowing out of “home.”

3. Are you from West Virginia yourself, if so what part?
My childhood and early middle school days were spent living in Logan, West Virginia and Abingdon, Virginia. My family then relocated to Elkview, West Virginia and that’s where I go “home” to now.

4. How many others are part of this project?
There were about six West Virginia natives on the ground working with me this summer. The post-production team is made up of two assistant editors, two web developers, a designer and user experience architect, a sound designer, a community outreach coordinator, a researcher, a production manager and myself, the project director and editor.

5. Who does most of the photography? any formal training? It is really good.
I shot most of the content that you will find on the temporary site www.hollowthefilm.com and Facebook page. If a community member shot it we give them credit. I went to school for journalism and am a self-taught filmmaker and photographer. I have been making short and feature-length films since 2009.

6. How have the people in your project taken it so far? Has there been anyone that did not want to participate or have you received any negative feedback.
I am very grateful that the community has embraced the project. We haven’t received any negative feedback, at this point, from residents.

Make sure you check out their website and Facebook page for many more of their images.

You can see many of my own images from my 4 part series on McDowell County here.

This last week I visited one of the past murder capitols of the United States, to document the city as it sits today. The city of Gary, Indiana is in shambles with some notable abandoned buildings including a Hilton Hotel, cathedral church, school, gas station, football stadium, and a train station. Gary lies on the south shore of Lake Michigan along with US Steel’s Gary Works. Gary Works was and still is the main employer in Gary even though it employs a fraction of what it once did.  One thing I noticed while photographing as much of the city as I could was stoplight behavior. Cars would never pull up directly beside me and they always left excessive room behind me. It was a little unnerving. Gary is also the childhood home of Michael Jackson. The Jackson 5 never did perform at the large abandoned Palace Theater downtown on Broadway. I hope you enjoy my images and make sure to check out the rest of my Gary collection at my portfolio website here - www.travisdewitz.com/gary

Gilroy Football Stadium

Hilton Hotel Room with a View of the Pool

Abandoned Gas Station

Jesus Saves

Budget Hotel on Broadway

Charlie’s Coney Island Locked Up

Abandoned Apartment Complex

Abandoned Hilton Hotel in Gary

Hilton Skywalk

While traveling through and photographing the many old coal towns in Southern West Virginia we stumbled across Mullens. Mullens is one of the more interesting town that we came across, so we decided to explore on foot. This old building looked to have a store at street level and apartment above. By the looks of the inside, it appeared that the tenants just decided to get up and leave one day, leaving all of their belongings behind. Many of the rooms were still fully furnished with old vintage furniture and appliances.  Many personal belonging and artifacts were also left in many of the rooms including photos. The building looks like it may have been a retirement home, assisted living , or low-income housing of some sort.  Such beauty left to decay and rot away. Sad sight to see.

See more photos from my West Virginia Project here.

When I travel to areas of great recession, decay, and abandonment around the Unites States I truly feel bad  that I went mainly capture the decay. I always photograph the good and positive as well when I am in these cities but I’m drawn to the bad. I think for me it is about shooting something that is much different from what I can see easily near me in Wisconsin. I try to capture the usually strong feel I get when I’m there. I want to show how I feel through my photos. As an outsider coming into cities like Detroit and Braddock, I felt an overwhelming feeling of darkness and hopelessness. I had completely different feelings between Detroit and Braddock. Detroit I see a lot more hope, I saw a strong revolt against failing. They are definitely on their hands and knees slowly trying to push forward. Braddock is dead. The only heartbeat left in Braddock is the steel mill, a steel mill that doesn’t employ a single Braddock resident. It isn’t that the steel mill doesn’t hire local workers, it is that the steel mill’s workers move away from Braddock. The Edgar Thomson steel mill can be seen from almost anywhere you are in Braddock, the mill is Braddock. I did not see any hope for Braddock, 90% of the population is gone and I don’t foresee any of them coming back. I think that Braddock has an incredible mayor that is working very hard to save his city and I hope he wins.

Detroit gave me a different feel. It is also full of abandoned lots, decaying homes, burnt out houses and entire industrial complexes that are standing empty. The scale and number of abandonments in Detroit is mind numbing but there is a lot of good mixed in between the bad. That mixture makes a big difference compared to having complete areas of devastation like the coal towns in Southwestern West Virginia. Another thing that helps is that Detroit also has an incredible mix of architectural styles that adds so much interest and beauty to the city. The beauty of some of the these building completely overcomes  the fire damage or decay. You don’t even notice it until you really look closer, almost a double take at times for me. But seeing abandoned skyscrapers really can mentally break a person. It is these building that are built to survive that now stand empty which made me realize how hard Detroit really was hit. It appears downtown Detroit has made a strong comeback from the research I have done which I hope they continue. Enjoy my images below and visit the links below to see more.

Detroit Fire Station 23

Abandoned Detroit Cathedral

Homes in Detroit’s Mansion District

Historic Home in Detroit

Artwork Along the Grand River Creative Corridor Project

Old Cadillac Hood Ornament With a Graffiti Backdrop

More photos from my Detroit Photography Project.

Virgin Mary in Braddock, PA

Steel Mill off Braddock Ave.

Steel City Pawn Brokers in Braddock

Former Site of the UPMC Braddock Hospital

US Steel Edgar Thomson Plant at Dawn

View of a Braddock Church Through an Alley

Castle Like Historic Home in Braddock

More photos from my Braddock Photography Project.