I’m so bad at maintaining any semblance of a timeline. This post is basically an addendum to the past May 6th feature. I don’t know if my model had any idea of the lengths I’d go through or the scary post-apocalyptic settings he’d have to trudge through to get these amazing shots. In spite of it all, he utilized his dance background to animate these scenes, making them communicate beyond the obvious. Building layers of symbolism into each shot. These old factories in Buffalo were perfect. Considering that most were involved with the steel industry, they add another layer of meaning to these metaphors.
After exploring the relatively safe train station, the factories were slightly frightening. They seemed still alive. With every breeze something would rattle, grate or slam. Was it really the wind? Sometimes we’d get startled by a totally unusual sound. But then it became obvious that these were the noises of nature slowly consuming this structure and bringing it back into her fold. In making these images, we were a tiny microsecond of that transformation.
It’s actually rather difficult to edit these images. They can change from shot to shot with the models expression. Trying to keep a steady course conveying the message is the primary goal. To view industry beyond the gleaming lights of progress is to demonstrate the world we have created. And this is not just an American plight. With the planet becoming smaller and its resources stretched, we have to find softer feet to walk future paths. It’s ourselves we destroy in the end… our humanity that is lost forever.
