bd richardson

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Vanishing

This body of work represents several years of documenting the iconic yet vanishing rural landscapes of North America. The images are both mundane and symbolic. They are scenes etched into our souls. But they are quickly vanishing from the national landscape. Wooden grain elevators and silos are being replaced by industrial storage facilities; deteriorating barns will never be rebuilt. One-room schoolhouses and country churches, once the anchor of their communities, are left abandoned. Rural homes are often pre-fab structures today; and watermen's shacks and fishing docks are disappearing altogether.

The photos are all long exposures with the lens kept open for extended periods of 1-4 minutes or longer. This has the effect of capturing the movement of the clouds, rendering them soft and blurred or radiating in various directions, depending on the wind and the movement as well as the cloud structure at the time the image was taken.

These moving clouds symbolize time moving forward in the face of the ephemeral lifespan of these vanishing strutures and the rich history they represent.
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  • The Schoolhouse with the Cows

    The Schoolhouse with the Cows

  • The Church by the Road

    The Church by the Road

  • Untitled photo
  • Approaching Storm

    Approaching Storm

  • School's Out for Summer

    School's Out for Summer

  • The Old Homestead

    The Old Homestead

    -Under the Trees-

  • Dual Tracks

    Dual Tracks

  • The Church with No Flock

    The Church with No Flock

  • Schoolhouse in the Round

    Schoolhouse in the Round

  • Parking in Front

    Parking in Front

  • Three Silos

    Three Silos

  • Untitled photo
  • The Trains on the Plain

    The Trains on the Plain

  • The Church Across the Street

    The Church Across the Street

  • Road to Nowhere

    Road to Nowhere

  • In the Eye of the Storm

    In the Eye of the Storm

  • Two Little White Boats

    Two Little White Boats

  • Standing Tall

    Standing Tall

  • Crabber's Shanty

    Crabber's Shanty

  • Prairie Church

    Prairie Church

  • Here Comes the Train

    Here Comes the Train

Galleries

  • Vanishing

    Vanishing

  • Gone Fishin'

    Gone Fishin'

  • Landscapes

    Landscapes

  • Flora & Fauna

    Flora & Fauna

  • International Mosaic

    International Mosaic

  • A China which will never exist again

    A China which will never exist again

  • Road Trip!

    Road Trip!

  • Nature's Mandalas

    Nature's Mandalas

  • Intimate Landscapes

    Intimate Landscapes

  • H2 Oh!

    H2 Oh!

  • If these walls could talk!

    If these walls could talk!

  • Civil War

    Civil War

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    School's Out for Summer
    The Old Homestead
    Dual Tracks