DELTA BLUES: Isleton in the Great Recession
This is a selection from a large portfolio (53 images) telling the story of a small Sacramento River town called Isleton that went boom and bust in the Great Recession of 2008. When I began photographing it in 2003 it was a sleepy town notable for its nostalgia and its historic district. But developers chose it as a site for 650 new dwellings for Sacramento, CA, commuters. The town, expecting great prosperity, tarted itself up for their arrival – and then nobody came. Eighteen homes were built before the crash. They've remained since then in a field of weeds. It'something that happened here and in many elsewheres.
In terms of style, this is an experiment in creating a 'sense of place,' telling a story through the habitat itself. It's a story of people who need not appear here, because they've revealed their difficult experience through their environment and its artifacts.
In the large portfolio, half of the images depict Isleton as it was in 2003, preserved almost unchanged from an earlier century; and half document the period of boom and bust. The following selection is divided accordingly.
(To move previous/next, use keyboard arrow keys; or on pad/phone, click just inside the edge of the frame.)
This is a selection from a large portfolio (53 images) telling the story of a small Sacramento River town called Isleton that went boom and bust in the Great Recession of 2008. When I began photographing it in 2003 it was a sleepy town notable for its nostalgia and its historic district. But developers chose it as a site for 650 new dwellings for Sacramento, CA, commuters. The town, expecting great prosperity, tarted itself up for their arrival – and then nobody came. Eighteen homes were built before the crash. They've remained since then in a field of weeds. It'something that happened here and in many elsewheres.
In terms of style, this is an experiment in creating a 'sense of place,' telling a story through the habitat itself. It's a story of people who need not appear here, because they've revealed their difficult experience through their environment and its artifacts.
In the large portfolio, half of the images depict Isleton as it was in 2003, preserved almost unchanged from an earlier century; and half document the period of boom and bust. The following selection is divided accordingly.
(To move previous/next, use keyboard arrow keys; or on pad/phone, click just inside the edge of the frame.)
