David Plowden by Sam.S https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623 Documenting “a vanishing America” over a 50 year career. en-us 2016-11-28 15:06:07 UTC 2023-02-10 20:42:38 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Moderncam.png Meeting Minor White ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142445211 2016-12-07 23:44:18 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142445211 Walker Evans ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142445297 2016-12-07 23:45:29 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142445297 Introduction ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142445345 Born October 9, 1932.

Known for his historical documentary photography of urban cities, steam trains, American farmlands, and small towns. Used a Hasselblad Non-Reflex camera (very delicate camera), and assuming it's from series 2, could produce Super Wide Angles with it's Biogon 38 mm lens.

Lived in NYC and Putney, VT, 1938-1962, Sea Cliff, Long Island 1969-1976.
Education: 
  • Attended The Putney School, Vermont, Class of 1951
  • Graduated from Yale University, New Haven, for CT, BA Economics, 1955. Hoped to work in railroad management.
  • Serious photography education began with an apprenticeship to O. Winston Link (1958-1959), a private study studying with Minor White and Nathan Lyons (1959 -1960), and an apprenticeship with George Meluso (1960-1963).
]]> 2016-12-07 23:46:07 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142445345 Objects of Fasination ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142446106 Fascinated at an early age (5 yrs old) with steam powered railways, trains, and steamboats. Photographed his first steam engine at age 11, which sparked his passion for the steam-powered trains. 

Grew up in New York City, but found it noisy and crowded. Begining in Minnesota, he fell in love with rural topography while studying it.

Began his career of photography by photograph steam locomotives in 1952, after working briefly for the Great Northern Railway. Series (published 2010) : Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden

Passion for trains was so great that he left White after only 6 months, when he felt the end of steam engines on the Canadian Pacific coming. Frustrated, but understanding, White said, "Go do your damned engines and get them out of your system or you’ll never do anything again."

A constant in Plowden's work is the use of natural light.
"One of the things I remember best about Walker, was his use of light...look[ing] out into the midst of the city; he was looking at the highlights [and shadows]...he was looking at the architecture of light." According to Plowden, the best lighting comes just before or just after a tornado
Series (published 2012): Humanities Iowa
and (published 2013) Heartland: The Plains and the Prairie
in the Midwest,

Would capture abandoned grocery stores, and such, to show how "empty" and "antiseptic" everything looked. Did not care if such subjects were truly abandoned. What mattered was the enormous space while the small, old building homed in the background. Although appalled at shopping centers, felt the had to be photographed and each photo very carefully composed. Series (1980-83): Wasteland

Another series (printed 1975, reprinted 1984 and 1988, revised 2002):  Bridges: The Spans of North America


]]> 2016-12-07 23:58:27 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142446106 How He Made his Living ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142450133 After assisting O. Winston Link and George Meluso, became a self-employed photographer and writer, 1962–present
  • Produced 20 books

Held various teaching and lecture positions:
  • Illinois Institute of Technology - Institute of Design, Chicago, IL
  • University of Iowa - School of Journalism, Iowa City, IA 
  • University of Baltimore - Institute for Publications Design, Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts, Baltimore, 
    MD
  • Grand Valley State University - Communications Arts and Humanities Division, Allendale, MI 
He has received numerous fellowships, grants and awards including a National Endowment for the Humanities, Smithsonian Institution Research Grant, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
]]> 2016-12-08 00:57:23 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142450133 Currently... ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142451405 Lives in Winnetka, Illinois,  a small village yet one of the most wealthy suburbs in the nation.

Hasn't photographed since 2011 due to inability at moving as well as he used to, and arthritis disabling his ability to develop his film in darkrooms by hand. But still wants to take photos: looking to capture portraiture and interiors, though wishes he could continue capturing the landscape.

He's bought a new Canon digital camera and has a few of his old students teaching him Photoshop.

Using technology he'd Restoring some his old negatives he has filed away.]]> 2016-12-08 01:13:31 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142451405 Iowa Sky ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142454813 2016-12-08 02:00:37 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142454813 Central Vermont Railway, Amherst, MA 1954 ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142456097 Cover of Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden]]> 2016-12-08 02:16:37 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142456097 Kitchen, Beltz House, Greene County, 2009 ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142461931 In Iowa]]> 2016-12-08 03:52:35 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142461931 Marion, Kansas, 1973 ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142462726 2016-12-08 04:02:59 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142462726 Grain Elevators, Sykeston, North Dakota, 1968 ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142463086 2016-12-08 04:10:38 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142463086 Bill Stramer and Son, 1971 ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142463291 2016-12-08 04:15:03 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142463291 Main Street, Cazenovia, New York, 1966 ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142463603 2016-12-08 04:22:26 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142463603 What compelled him to start focusing on the changing American landscape? ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142493818 Saw a sense of beauty in the age of mechanics and age of hands-on work, comparing tasks such as shoveling coal or wheat being almost like ballet, and describes his subjects as very human.

Felt a " a sense of urgency to record those parts of our heritage which seem to be receding as quickly as the view from the rear of a speeding train. [He] fear that we are eradicating the evidence of our past accomplishments so quickly that in time we may well lose the sense of who we are.”

He photographs what he misses and goes back to places he previously photographs 5 -10 years ago. Many of his past subjects have disappeared. “There is no more overt, powerful, or rational expression of accomplishment—of man's ability to build.”

He feels today's society has become "very inhumane" for we "lost the art of communication and neighborliness" and is uninterested at the commercialism (ex: fast food places) that has changed the landscape.]]> 2016-12-08 09:53:03 UTC https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142493818 Citations ss1230 https://padlet.com/ss1230/k63ghzfnf623/wish/142505048 Photos of David Plowden and much information about David Plowden taken from his gallery at http://www.davidplowden.com/
or the http://brbl-archive.library.yale.edu/exhibitions/davidplowden/plowgal.htm.

Presentation and other Photos shot by myself, Samantha Shumake

References
David Plowden. (2016, 22 February). Wikipedia. Retrieved November 20, 2016.

Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio. (2012, February 2). Conversation with David Plowden - Chapter 6 - Minor White. YouTube. Retrieved November 20, 2016.

Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio. (2012, February 2). Conversation with David Plowden - Chapter 8 - Walker Evans. YouTube. Retrieved November 20, 2016.

Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio. (2012, February 2). Conversation with David Plowden - Chapter 11 - Iowa Sky. YouTube. Retrieved November 20, 2016.

Fechrmen, Craig. (2013, October 16). David Plowden sheds light on the midwestern prairie. Chicago Reader. Retrieved November 18, 2016.

Fox, Randy. (2011, December 10). David Plowden: Photographing The Soul Of America. Huffington Post. Retrieved November 18, 2016.

Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden. (n.d.). Center for Railroad Photography & Art. Retrieved November 23, 2016 from http://www.railphoto-art.org/exhibits/plowden/
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