GHOSTS IN THE WILDERNESS Abandoned America

Worobiec, Tony

ISBN 10: 1904332080 / ISBN 13: 9781904332084

Published by AAPPL Artists & Photographers Press Limited, United Kingdom, 2003

About this Item

About Very Good 1st Edition hardcover with no dustjacket. Clean, black cloth boards, lightly bumped and rubbed to extremities. Small nick to rear cover plate. Internally, no writing or stamps. Clean, bright pages. Please note that this is a verylarge, heavy book; extra postage will be required. Carefully packaged and despatched within 48 hours from our wee bookshop in Scotland.; Color Photographs; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 176 pages.

Seller Inventory # 62015

Bibliographic Details

• Title: GHOSTS IN THE WILDERNESS Abandoned America
• Publisher: AAPPL Artists & Photographers Press Limited, United Kingdom
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1904332080
• ISBN 13: 9781904332084
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Over a 7-year period, Tony and Eva Worobiec, two of the greatest photographers of all time, traveled the dusty paths of rural America, particularly in the Dakotas, Montana, and Wyoming. The fruits of their journey are pictures so poignant and evocative of the American West that they are the photographic equivalent of a Steinbeck novel. Each amazing photo vividly reveals the struggle for survival, of a disappearing way of life, in the forgotten countryside and backroads of the U.S. In the often harsh and unforgiving landscape, the Worobiecs shot affecting and beautiful pictures of abandoned farms, schools, gas stations, grain elevators and tractors, diners, and trucks.
Tony's pictures are large format, shot in black and white, and then hand tinted. The results resemble postcards from the 1950s. Eva shoots directly in color for a more starkly modern aspect. Both achieve magnificent, and ultimately emotionally touching, results.
Along with the photographs are the words of the remaining residents, who speak sadly of better times, the friends and neighbors for whom things didn't work out, and of their own, once-flourishing piece of abandoned America.
This remarkable achievement is both an exquisite photography book and a commentary on the American way of life.

Synopsis

An illustrated study of those parts of rural America, which "didn't make it". Over a six-year period husband and wife photographers Tony and Eva Worobiec have travelled extensively in rural USA, particularly North and South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. In this beautiful, empty but often harsh and unforgiving landscape they have photographed farms, ranches, schools and gas stations, grain elevators and tractors, diners and trucks all in various stages of disrepair and dereliction. The Worobiec's spoke to some of the remaining residents, people who could recall better times and remember why things didn't work out for neighbours and friends. Often it was the basic difficulty of producing sufficient food in extreme weather conditions. The land was cheap to acquire but there was good reason for this. Tony's photographs are large format, black and white, then hand tinted. The result reminds us of postcards from the 1950s. Published alongside Eva's more conventional full-colour work they evoke a nostalgic atmosphere seen by few Americans and even fewer non-Americans, but recognized by all of us.