Nightscapes

The Nightscapes series borders on fine art and documentary photography category. It is an exploration of eerie, yet strangely beautiful landscapes that emerge when abandoned structures are left to decay without human interaction or habitation. The series also documents the physical decline of the historically significant Naval Air Station in Alameda, California.

I was inspired to shoot the Alameda Naval Station at night by the work of Todd Hido, a local Bay Area photographer. I shot the series on a Pentax 6×7 medium format camera using expired Fuji 64 Tungsten film over a five-year period from 2018 to the present.

Aside from the obvious, these ghost-like structures represent the loss, sadness, and longing for a human element that is no longer present. The colorful buildings are now only hollow carcasses of their proud former selves. They are a metaphor for that stark absence we feel when we lose those who are close, and only the ashes and memories remain.