dubois

Out of the two above, which is better? I like the vertical.

Lex

Here are two images I had of you. I hope they were what you were needing.

Dubois, BFA Project

Dubois is a small town in Eastern Idaho with no more than five hundred people. The town used to be a hub of agricultural life with everything from two hotels and three car dealerships to a roller-skating rink. But that was when the old highway ran through the middle of town and people knew that Dubois existed, apart from being a microscopic dot on the Idaho state map. Since those times a freeway was built just west of Dubois, which bypasses the town completely. Now all a traveler sees is an off ramp with two gas stations on either side, and little more than a few dilapidated buildings further down the road. They stop in for their gas and snack and then continue on their way to Billings or perhaps the opal minds of Spencer. People used to know about Dubois, now it’s just a place of “less people and more mountains”.
I chose this town for precisely the quote above, “less people, more mountains”. It seemed to be the official motto of people living in the area. The town represents to me what has happened to ‘small town” America and how, especially in states like Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, the times have passed over what make us who we are. The town is very much alive, but to the passer by it is just this side of a ghost town. I chose to photograph the town using my large format camera due to the older process that it involves and it seemed a fit tribute to a town that time has also forgotten. To take a digital shot of a place and run it through Photoshop seems to be the current trend, but to take the time with film to get to know your focus and the process that your using seemed to me to relate to the town. In photography everyone has moved away from film, but I chose to go back to it and back to a place time has forgotten.

Elder Miller