MorganParkPic1023   (9 of 10)   View Original Image

Chicago: Morgan Park  -  How do you photograph a bungalow? Morgan Park, more or less, is one giant sea of bungalows, and bungalows are about as complex as a shoebox. So, how does one shoot a bungalow? And do so in a way that conveys both information (the documentary photographer?s job) and seems more skilled than the type of click your average pedestrian would take? Well, at first I intended to take shot after shot of different bungalows in a row to emphasize the fact that they're all really the exact same house (with only the porch being different). This approach is used by a lot of 'fine art' photographers who picture suburban townhouses in endless, homogenous rows, with the apparent idea being that America mass produces everything and tries to make everyone fit into some sort of cookie cutter mold (or whatever hipster idea is behind those shots). I felt, however, that such an approach really wouldn't be fair, as each bungalow in Chicago has been the home of families that really were families. So... I decided to shoot a few bungalows with respect. Perhaps it's not exciting photography, but it does document how 50% of Chicagoans live.

In this collection there are also some 'square' style houses from South Beverly (shot around Kennedy Park). I included them as part of a joke: people from Morgan Park always insist that they are from Beverly, people from Beverly always describe people from Morgan Park as being from Blue Island, people from East Beverly insist that Beverly ends at Western Avenue (and so West Beverly must be a part of Mt. Greenwood?), and people from the rest of Chicago simply refer to the 'Southwest Side, where the remnant of the Irish still live'.

As a side note, I went out on this shoot because I feel that an honest documentary photographer has to spread out his targets. I could click away at freight trains and factories in the Calumet Basin all day, but that wouldn't be an honest depiction of the Southside.

James Dinnerville  

more info [+] more info [-]