Ghosts in the Wilderness: Abandoned America

Ghosts in the Wilderness: Abandoned America by Worobiec, Eva. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9781904332084.

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. Tonys 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 didnt 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.