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Author Topic: Grant / Retail Landscape  (Read 3238 times)

farbschlurf

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Grant / Retail Landscape
« on: March 15, 2018, 02:16:03 pm »

Great work here! - Enjoyed reading and watching. Are there any other resources, yet, or am I too impatient?

Congratulations to the LuLa Team, again - you got a very lucky hand choosing photographers who deserve it. Thanks again.
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hermankrieger

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2018, 07:28:35 pm »

Another look at shopping malls-
"Mall-aise"
www.efn.org/~hkrieger/mallaise.htm
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OmerV

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2018, 12:07:48 pm »

Congratulations on the endowment, Drew Harty.

As someone who also photographs urban landscapes, albeit occasionally, I enjoyed this work. In Tucson, and perhaps most of the Southwest, the traditional downtown scene has long ceded the shopping market to strip malls, big box stores, and malls. Thus we have a kind of shopping store urban blight that in 1970 prompted Life Magazine to declared one of our major avenues, Speedway Blvd., the ugliest street in America. Things have changed but not by much.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2018, 12:22:24 pm by OmerV »
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bns

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2018, 05:04:49 am »

Fascinating and allmost overwhelming story. Congrats!

cheers,
Boudewijn Swanenburg

JD

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2018, 07:07:26 pm »

I found your commentary thoughtful and your photographs satisfying. As an American who has immigrated to Australia and visits the USA once a year, the changes you document in words and pictures are like a very fast time lapse of my experience each time I go 'home'.  For me, the changes are anything but gradual. Looking forward to hearing about your finished book project.
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2018, 08:00:08 pm »

This is a great project, beautifully executed. The essay and images are quite compelling.
Congratulations, Drew!

-Eric
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-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)

drewharty

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #6 on: April 01, 2018, 11:34:43 am »

Another look at shopping malls-
"Mall-aise"
www.efn.org/~hkrieger/mallaise.htm

Hello Herman,

Thanks for the link to your Mall-aise photos. I particularly enjoyed "Market Recess" and "May the Sales Force Be With You." I have tried photographing in mall interiors unsuccessfully. I even rigged a camera I could shoot with remotely inside a small case, but it felt kind of dishonest. What are you shooting with inside the malls?

Drew
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drewharty

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #7 on: April 01, 2018, 11:48:42 am »

[quote As someone who also photographs urban landscapes, albeit occasionally, I enjoyed this work. In Tucson, and perhaps most of the Southwest, the traditional downtown scene has long ceded the shopping market to strip malls, big box stores, and malls. Thus we have a kind of shopping store urban blight that in 1970 prompted Life Magazine to declared one of our major avenues, Speedway Blvd., the ugliest street in America. Things have changed but not by much.
[/quote]

Hello Omer,

Unfortunately, I have developed a sick fascination for places like Speedway Blvd. I've seen similar "ugliness" repeated in so many places in the east and, yes, particularly in the west. My hope is that in 50 - 100 years people look at photographs of retail development and wonder how anyone could have built something like that.

I really enjoyed your black and white landscape photos. They have an evocative sense of loss or displacement to them. I hope you keep photographing the urban landscape.

Drew
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drewharty

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #8 on: April 01, 2018, 12:06:31 pm »

[quote I found your commentary thoughtful and your photographs satisfying. As an American who has immigrated to Australia and visits the USA once a year, the changes you document in words and pictures are like a very fast time lapse of my experience each time I go 'home'.  For me, the changes are anything but gradual. Looking forward to hearing about your finished book project.
[/quote]

Hello JD,

Thanks for you kind comments about my retail landscape project. The numbers are staggering about how fast retail development has grown from the 60s to early 2000s. Unbelievably so. In my travels across the U.S., I saw very few towns, with sufficient economic base, that haven't been changed by retail development. Your annual return visits must offer you an interesting (strange?) perspective.

Drew
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drewharty

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #9 on: April 01, 2018, 12:16:18 pm »

[quote Enjoyed reading and watching. Are there any other resources, yet, or am I too impatient?

Congratulations to the LuLa Team, again - you got a very lucky hand choosing photographers who deserve it. Thanks again.
[/quote]

Thanks for your comments. No, no book yet. I am currently trying to find writers who could contribute essays to a book.

I also would like to thank the LuLa Team again for the great opportunity.

Drew
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drewharty

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #10 on: April 01, 2018, 12:25:34 pm »

[quote
Fascinating and allmost overwhelming story. Congrats! [/quote]

Hello Boudewijn,

Thanks you for the kind comments. I appreciate that you feel the breadth of the story from my photographs. I struggled with trying to frame the project because it is overwhelming: both in terms of the physical impact of retail development everywhere and the emotional impact of taking on such a large project. After a while it can be hard to get a sense of what you are or aren't accomplishing.

Drew
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drewharty

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #11 on: April 01, 2018, 12:34:32 pm »

[quote This is a great project, beautifully executed. The essay and images are quite compelling.
Congratulations, Drew! [/quote]

Hello Eric,

Thanks for your comments. Undertaking the project over the past 10 years has been a real learning experience, particularly because I wasn't always sure where I was going with it. It is rewarding to know people connect with the work.

Drew
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #12 on: April 01, 2018, 01:52:30 pm »

Congrats on the grant. Powerful idea and project.

My (commercial) job was to make malls visually appealing. Just one more facet to add to the story of the mall culture in America:

Telecaster

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #13 on: April 01, 2018, 03:21:41 pm »

Last time I was in Fargo, ND (~15 years ago), I was struck by how deserted the downtown area had become compared to my previous visit just a few years earlier. While in town my friends & I had hoped to host a dinner party at the same family-owned restaurant we'd used during earlier visits. The place had an upper floor with rooms dedicated to such stuff. It didn't even occur to me to make a reservation beforehand 'cuz our event would've been mid-week and I knew the restaurant wasn't busy then. Anyway it turned out the place was closed, as in shut down completely. We ended up instead at a chain restaurant in "The Mall" south of town. Which, as it turned out, was where Fargo-ites in general preferred to hang out.

I don't know enough about Fargo to understand the particular dynamics at work, but I was mystified that people would abandon en masse a really quite nice downtown area with genuine character for the blandness of just another shop-a-gopolis.

-Dave-
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drewharty

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #14 on: April 01, 2018, 09:40:12 pm »

[quote My (commercial) job was to make malls visually appealing. Just one more facet to add to the story of the mall culture in America:
[/quote]

Hello Slobodan,

Your commercial mall shots are an interesting contrast to my photos. They remind me of a group of photos I saw commissioned by a utility (I believe?) in southern California showing early 50's franchises lite up at night. The photos felt so hopeful and optimistic. The newer malls I encounter while photographing feel the same to me. They have a sense of order and well-being about them, like in your photos. But during my travels, I became aware how quickly new strip centers feel dated and run down compared to the newer retail development just down the road typically one ring further out into the surrounding countryside. The pattern was repeated in town after town.

Drew
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drewharty

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #15 on: April 01, 2018, 10:17:37 pm »

[quote Last time I was in Fargo, ND (~15 years ago), I was struck by how deserted the downtown area had become compared to my previous visit just a few years earlier. While in town my friends & I had hoped to host a dinner party at the same family-owned restaurant we'd used during earlier visits. The place had an upper floor with rooms dedicated to such stuff. It didn't even occur to me to make a reservation beforehand 'cuz our event would've been mid-week and I knew the restaurant wasn't busy then. Anyway it turned out the place was closed, as in shut down completely. We ended up instead at a chain restaurant in "The Mall" south of town. Which, as it turned out, was where Fargo-ites in general preferred to hang out.

I don't know enough about Fargo to understand the particular dynamics at work, but I was mystified that people would abandon en masse a really quite nice downtown area with genuine character for the blandness of just another shop-a-gopolis. [/quote]

Hello Dave,

You pose a really interesting question: why do people stop going to a once popular locally owned restaurant in favor of a franchise? I was shocked during my travels by how many dead or nearly deserted downtowns I saw. Yet global franchise have been so successful and relentless in their marketing and branding that it is hard to imagine how we would shop without them.

Drew
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Grant / Retail Landscape
« Reply #16 on: April 01, 2018, 11:42:53 pm »

... I was shocked during my travels by how many dead or nearly deserted downtowns I saw..l

My experience as well.
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