abandoned americana
Location scouting in Whatcom County, WA
I heard they might be taking down the car on top of this abandoned burger joint soon so we had to get there first!
The Former Zane Burger in Fairhaven
I moved to the PNW from New York City at the end of 2023. Trying to get my bearings in a new place, I spent a few days driving around to find interesting backdrops for portraits. I’ve been inspired by the work of Beth Sacca, whose latest “Character” series gives seemingly unremarkable vacant spaces a surreal cinematic feel.
When I came across this abandoned retro burger spot in the middle of Fairhaven, a historic district in Washington, I knew I had to plan a shoot there. My friend Rae volunteered to model and bring this idea to life.
Since it was shut down, there were no lights, so I used an off camera flash and added pink and green gels.
Our next stop was around the corner at this old London-style phone booth. It was sealed shut, so I shot through the booth, lighting the model from the side.
Car Wash Shoot in Bellingham
Being new to town, I hadn’t yet established my usual places. After a long road trip, my car was in dire need of a bath, so while running errands I located the closest car wash I could find. It wasn’t quite abandoned, but it was vacant. I went several times before I saw any other cars there (of course it was the most crowded on the day of our shoot). This seemingly innocuous carwash gave us so many options for photos, and I basically tricked Haley into washing my car (kidding!).
Fairhaven Train Station
Pay phones are more common than I realized in Whatcom County. This one actually had a dial tone! I looked up train times and there weren’t any trains arriving or departing during our scheduled shoot time, but I didn’t account for cargo trains. Luckily we were on the track at the right time when one went by to provide that motion blur. We did get asked to leave (apparently you can’t be on the tracks unless you’re waiting for a train, and I’m sure my flash and umbrella didn’t help) but we were kindly redirected to a spot just off to the side where the mountains and tracks were still in view. Click through for a peek at the lighting setup.
