Canadian photographer Philip Jarmain has been very busy since 2010 documenting abandoned buildings in Detroit with emphasis on the 20th century architecture. His work is presented at the Meridian gallery in San Francisco and features 20 large format size prints which are 4x6 ft and 5x7 ft tall.
He recently won Luerzer's Archive 2014/2015 Top 200 Photogaphers Worldwide for his "American Beauty" series. "These are the last large format architectural photographs for many of these structures" says Jarmain.
See more of his work at
http://philipjarmain-americanbeauty.com/
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| Woodward Presbyterian |
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| East Town Theatre Exterior |
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Belle Isle Aquarium
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I am drawn to Philip's work because he captures the essence of these places. The fact that he is using a large format camera puts him above all the hobbyists' doing this for fun, in my opinion. He is approaching these as a form of genuine documentation I believe, contrary to many native Detroiter's fascination with "ruin porn." On a technical note, I enjoy how everything is in focus and the images are clean. It's important for me because in my own work I want everything to look as good as possible, as smooth as possible.
On a side note, it is curious how this series was shown in San Francisco but not in Canada or Detroit. Perhaps there is some resistance from showing off these kids of images locally?
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