Odawa Grave Site - Good Hart, MI (Field Notes)

“Odawa Grave Site - Good Hart, MI”

This image was the first photograph taken for the series, in its current iteration. The grave site was located on the grounds of a Catholic Church in the area. After doing some research, I discovered the wooden crosses were placed as a memorial for the unmarked graves that were strewn throughout the location. Strolling through the graveyard, there were many of these crosses that were in disarray, either due to time, the elements or a combination of both. This collection of crosses were located on the east side of the church, and I was immediately struck by the strong Christian iconography and the relationship between it and the burial site that it represented. This location was around 5 hours drive away from where I live, and I only went on a whim, not really knowing if the location would offer anything in the way of photographic opportunity worthwhile. Discovering this scene was a delight. However, this was shot at the height of the pandemic where most labs were closed due to the lockdown. The lab that was open, I sent the roll of film to, ultimately ruined the film in developing and this was the only image to have survived the process. This image set the overall aesthetics for this series; Square photos, shot on color film, all photographed in various lighting scenarios, and to approach the scenes and subjects to convey more emotionality than is conventional in cemetery photography. A photographic print was also entered and displayed in the 43rd Elkhart Juried Regional, the the Midwest Museum of American Art.