Photographer preserves Indiana’s past

Photographer John Bower finds Indiana’s history hidden in the abandoned farms and cemeteries lying along the road.

Bower, a Bloomington resident and graduate of Purdue University, will display his exhibit “Capturing the Soul of Indiana, The Documentary Photography of John Bower,” in the City Hall Atrium throughout March.

The exhibit will showcase photographs Bower took of old structures, abandoned businesses and historic landmarks found along the highways and back roads of Indiana.

“It focuses a lot on the past,” said Miah Michaelsen, assistant economic development director for the arts at City Hall. “There are some images that you see there that are places that still exist and may still be familiar to you. But a lot of them are places that are in the process of disappearing or have already disappeared.”

The photographs range from deserted railroads to an old chair sitting on a front porch, but all are in black and white. Bower said he photographs his subjects without color because color takes away from the image.

“I think you can see more energy in it — color kind of gets in the way of a lot of things a lot of the time,” he said. “These have a little more drama in black and white.”

The images come from Bower’s published collections of photographs, which cover 90,000 miles of the state. Each has different theme and story.

But Bower, who isn’t always able to find a subject’s history, said he prefers to allow viewers to make up their own story for each image.

Bower said he and his wife have been traveling the state since they were married in 1972, but he only began taking a camera with him 10 years ago. Since then he has published six books, each with roughly 200 images and started his own publishing company for photography, Studio Indiana.

Though he has photographs taken from Bloomington to Gary, he said he doesn’t have a one particular place he prefers.

“Each corner of the state’s got a different flavor,” Bower said.
But, he said, people in southern Indiana tend to abandon their homes and belongings far more than those up north.

Bower said he uses a medium-format camera to capture his images, which creates a negative nearly three times larger than a typical 35mm camera would, and never shoots without his tripod.

He works as a photographer full-time, having saved money to travel by building his own house and avoiding credit cards.

Though he lives frugally, Bower said he is able to spend nearly all of his time doing the thing he loves.

When asked whether he would expand his exploration into states outside of Indiana, he just laughs.

“I’m not done exploring Indiana, yet,” he said. “I’ve only covered 90,000 miles.”