ND's Photographic Appeal - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

ND's Photographic Appeal

North Dakota's early pioneer history dots the landscape in the form of decaying, turn of the century farmsteads and high plains churches.
As Shaun Sipma reports, it's the toll from time on the structures that's drawing photographers from across the country.

(David Puig,  Hopkington, MA)  "I'm from Hopkington, Massachusetts."
(Ellen Davidson, New York)  "New York."
(Steve Epstein, Rockville Maryland) "Rockville Maryland"

Attorneys, businessmen and more have found themselves in an unfamiliar place, quiet.....still... and to them in the middle of nowhere.

(Ellen Davidson, New York) "The sky goes on for ever and you have an opportunity to do uninterrupted photography."
(David Puig, Hopkington, MA) "I really enjoy the area, it's such a wonderful area and such a difference from what I'm used to seeing coming from a relatively large urban area."

The group, guided by renowned photographer Tillman Crane was challenged to challenge themselves, see what isn't seen and capture their interpretation of a place long forgotten.

(David Puig, Hopkington, MA) "Everybody shoots very differently and being here and watch people through their creative process actually opens up my eyes and makes me look at things differently."
(Steve Epstein, Rockville Maryland) "I have an affinity to old structure, the grain in the wood, peeling paint from the windows, the way the light hits the corners inside and bounces around sometimes through glass, sometimes not through glass so this is a very big challenge."
(Ellen Davidson, New York) "It is something I get to turn off one part of my brain and exercise a different type, it's fun to do something that's completely different that the rest of my life."

With each unique perspective, also comes preference, in the camera and the format.
The latest high resolution digitals which the creative process continues on the computer to cameras that date more closely to the time of the setting their shooting...

(Steve Epstein, Rockville Maryland) "This is a 5x 7 view camera. (edit)  I may got out for five hours and to shoot and shoot a half dozen photographs, that's it because a lot of it is contemplative.  A lot of it is thinking about how are you going to do it, what you're trying to show and what you want that final result to look like."

For a full week, each aspect of the different locations are explored.
Ironically though, the photographers find that somehow the serenity and the simplicity of the area gets imprinted on them.

(Steve Epstein, Rockville Maryland) "You drive down the road, you walk down the road, you pass people you've never seen before and everybody waves and you find yourself waiving back I'm not use to that, it's a great thing."

And what becomes of all the photographs.
The pictures are taken for pleasure.
Some wind up on website's, others hanging on a wall.
But it's the experience and the camaraderie that keeps people interested in the nowhere setting here in North Dakota.

Near Rugby, Shaun Sipma KX News.