Fairbanks In Time
Fairbanks on film
Fairbanks... What can I say about it? Fairbanks is the end of the trail in a lot of ways. Realistically, it has always been a fairly remote town, in the heart of Alaska, and the jumping off point for the rest of truly remote Alaska.
It's a working town, and built according to it's harsh environment. Things tend to get used, again and again until they can no longer be refurbished. You see this in the places, and things about the town.
This series is about my home town of Fairbanks. I wanted to show what Fairbanks is really like. Not what a tourist brochure would show, but how this town shows it's resilience. In the patina of the buildings, the rugged resourcefulness necessary in it's harsh environment.
Cars, clothes, buildings are used, and used, and retrofitted again and again. The architecture is very utilitarian and always has been. Fairbanks is not overly concerned with form, but rather function.
In this ongoing series, I've been trying to capture Fairbanks as it really is. A mixture of old and new. I've been trying to treat this as a portraiture of Fairbanks. To show the undeniable, and often gruff, reality of this beautiful, harsh place that people have chosen to live and make their lives.
For this ongoing series I chose to use film. Partly because I wanted to challenge myself and learn how to use an older form of photography, but also because I think capturing Fairbanks on an old antiquated technology kind of fits with Fairbanks.
I have been primarily using medium format cameras to capture Fairbanks' patina. My trusty Yashica 124G and my Mamiya RB67 going almost everywhere with me. I have also been experimenting with all kinds of different films. I've learned to love the limitations of film. It is a medium that forces you to slow down and be methodical in your work.
