Ghosts in the Wilderness - Abandoned America

These ghost towns and farm­ing com­mu­ni­ties were cre­at­ed due to a steady decline in pop­u­la­tion in the great Amer­i­can plains and with such a low pop­u­la­tion the lands became almost worth­less so com­mu­ni­ties sim­ply moved out. In this work­shop, we go onto the plains and see places that appear to be almost frozen in time.

The High Plains stretch from Texas in the south to the Cana­di­an bor­der in the north, and gets tru­ly inter­est­ing when you trav­el to the states of Mon­tana and North Dako­ta. To the east the farms are pros­per­ous, while to the west the rugged Rocky Moun­tains form a nat­ur­al bar­ri­er. This part of the High Plains is bar­ren, sparse­ly pop­u­lat­ed and it is not uncom­mon to trav­el 50 miles before reach­ing a size­able community.

It is a land lit­tered with aban­doned home­steads, grain ele­va­tors, church­es and schools and clas­sic Amer­i­can cars aban­doned at the road­side often iso­lat­ed with­in the unbe­liev­ably flat land­scape. As you might imag­ine, these derelict struc­tures offer unique pho­to­graph­ic oppor­tu­ni­ties set against the big North Amer­i­can sky. At this time of year we are most like­ly to encounter the weath­er at its most inter­est­ing and the huge open skies mak­ing pho­tograph­ing this place a tru­ly amaz­ing experience.

Whilst Havre is a func­tion­ing town with all the mod­ern con­ve­niences, it is sur­round­ed by a mul­ti­tude of tru­ly icon­ic aban­doned com­mu­ni­ties, rich in his­to­ry and detail; we will be spend­ing two nights here. Locat­ed on High­way 2, this gives us the oppor­tu­ni­ty to trav­el either east or west. Trav­el­ing west towards Shel­by, we will encounter a won­der­ful col­lec­tion of desert­ed and semi-desert­ed com­mu­ni­ties which offer a mul­ti­tude of oppor­tu­ni­ties for orig­i­nal pho­tog­ra­phy. In the evening, the area direct­ly north of Havre also offers some fab­u­lous pho­to­graph­ic possibilities.

Whilst the major­i­ty of our time will be spent in the won­der­ful state of Mon­tana, we will slip over the bor­der into North Dako­ta, which is anoth­er area fea­tur­ing ele­ments of aban­don­ment. It is also a region famed for its ponds and small lakes, which are a breed­ing ground for an impres­sive array of birds.

Our main focus how­ev­er will be the back-roads, scour­ing the land­scape for aban­doned home­steads, schools and church­es; occa­sion­al­ly we will be able to enter some of these prop­er­ties. Weath­ered and bleached under the unremit­ting cycle of hot sum­mers and harsh win­ters, these haunt­ing­ly beau­ti­ful places stand iso­lat­ed against the back­drop of the open plains. This is an area often referred to as ​“big sky coun­try”, a phrase which apt­ly describes how expan­sive and flat this region can be. It is an area plagued by storms and the occa­sion­al tor­na­do, which over a peri­od of years take their inevitable toll on these frag­ile struc­tures. As you can imag­ine, the oppor­tu­ni­ties for pho­tog­ra­phy are immense.

Paul Gal­lagher and Michael Pilk­ing­ton will be with you every step of the way on this incred­i­ble adven­ture and want you to cap­ture the very essence of what this clas­sic Amer­i­can land­scape can offer. It may be the big skies, the vast plains or the details of decay­ing cars and build­ings, either way, it is a caul­dron for expres­sive and cre­ative pho­tog­ra­phy that must be harnessed.

As with all our pho­tog­ra­phy work­shops and tours, we at aspect2i do not believe in large groups so this pho­tog­ra­phy tour is lim­it­ed to eight par­tic­i­pants with both Paul and Michael to enable ded­i­cat­ed 1 to 1 tuition time.