Echoes of Jackson: Capturing Façades Before They’re Gone
My parents and grandparents often talked about the businesses that came and went in Jackson, Michigan. Our downtown used to be vibrant, full of drug stores and theatres. Now, it’s mainly gift shops and taverns. Around town, beloved restaurants have closed. Family businesses shuttered.
Here in my lifetime, I’ve seen the same.
Over time, a typology project developed: to capture some of Jackson’s iconic façades before they disappear. It’s half nostalgia, half a love of abandoned buildings – with a little bit of community pride sprinkled in.
Much of my photography is rooted in history and small-A archaeology. I take photos of the Irish Hills before the little theme parks of my childhood disappear completely. Or Grandma’s house before it gets sold. Or rural houses before they crumble down.
As luck would have it, I grabbed photos of the iconic Gilbert’s Steakhouse days before it was demolished last September. I captured the little corner pizza shop in February before it got knocked down earlier this summer (above). I managed to take pictures of the colorful tax-return business before it became a drive-through coffee shop.
This has happened so often that, if I’m in the car with the kids and I pull over to take a photo, they joke that my photo will knock the building down.
There’s a short window of time between viable and gone. Nothing lasts forever. Might as well photograph those well-known places before time swallows them up.