“Main Street America” is an account of what I see as a trend happening in our society. The “Main Street” concept of the past century has changed, with human society moving from rural areas to reaching a keystone in 2008 when half of all humans were living in urban settings, according to the United Nations. This trend will be growing to reach a staggering 70% of all humans in our planet living at urban settings by the year 2050, leaving behind a new ghost towns.
These body of work consist of 10 photographs framed and ready to be hung, it was first showed at the “Dean’s” exhibit on October 2009 at the Graduate Center in New York City. One of the framed works grace the walls of the permanent Art Collection at the School of Professional Studies/CUNY in New York City.
The images that I have captured are those of abandonment of small rural towns as in the case of Payette, Weiser and Caldwell in Idaho. This is in direct contrast to the abandonment of industrial Brooklyn with the expanding differences of the opulent “Big City” with its tallest buildings and grandiose sculptures and fine Architecture as we see in Manhattan. Finally there is the birth of a new “Main Street” in ethnic enclaves as in “Sunset Park”, Brooklyn, with immigrants moving in to take the place where others have left.
Mostly all the photographs were made using the High Dynamic Range Imaging technique, shooting up to seven frames with the darkest to the lightness of the scene and then align them in the digital darkroom onto one image; rendering all possible tonalities at the time of capture. The prints were carefully crafted with the highest standards that the photography market is offering at this time. Printed in the Canon Photo Printer PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II. The pigment ink that it uses is the Canon ChromaLife100 ink system guarantees archival photo life up to 100 years. The prints were made size 13” by 19” in a premium archival fine art and photographic digital paper. The Photo Paper used is the Hahnemüle Fine Art Baryta 325 gsm. Mould made of 100% cotton and acid free, observing the most
rigorous archival process. They are professionally museum mounted and in a wood frame 16” by 21” with a UV glass for its protection, this is a limited edition print of 25. Each signed on the bottom right; each picture has its certificate of authenticity bearing the title and sequential number of the print.
