Page 145 - Demo

AfterwordWhen Lynn and I begin a book project like this, we start with a rough idea of where it will lead, but we don%u2019t even guess at what the final result will be. We%u2019ve learned that, soon enough, our venture will take on a life of its own%u2014urging us to go certain places, to include this, to omit that. We%u2019ve both learned to trust, and dutifully follow, this intuitive process, because it always seems to be right.When the idea for 2nd Stories first emerged, we were already aware of interesting things up in the air. After all, being two people who enjoy looking around wherever we go, we had seen many of them. While we had no idea of the variety we would eventually come across, we just knew we%u2019d find what we needed%u2014and we did. For example, early on, we hadn%u2019t thought of including images of stairways. But as we started shooting, there they were%u2014obviously important aspects of our journey. In the end, what makes a project like this so enjoyable is the evolution, the exploring, and the mysterious inevitability of it all.Having become familiar with much of southern Indiana during explorations for our two previous photography books, we decided, once again, to limit our travels to that part of the state lying south of U.S. 40. Comprehensively covering all of Indiana would have simply been too big a project, and including images from all ninety-two counties would have shortchanged our subject. At first, we considered driving up and down every numbered highway in our chosen territory. But, as the project unfolded, it seemed like it would be more revealing to go through each town marked on our map, many of which were on less-traveled side roads. So that%u2019s we ending up doing. By driving 12,000 miles on a long series of day trips, we visited a total of 912 cities and towns%u2014every single one shown on our official 2000 Indiana highway map. To help us find the out-of-the way places, we relied on an accordion folder filled with county maps. Still, we occasionally got lost, and had to depend on a compass to find our way to a recognizable landmark.We roamed through cities and towns, large and small, ranging from major population centers (Indianapolis and Evansville) to tiny, nearly forgotten hamlets. While many of the communities retained their charm and vitality, others had vanished%u2014a few so much so that there was absolutely nothing left, not even a stop sign.Of course, we could have gotten plenty of pictures by limiting our search to county seats and bigger cities. But, if we had done that, we would have missed some real treasures in Indiana%u2019s smallest towns%u2014such as the quaint schoolhouse in Philomath (page 121); Waverly%u2019s ethereal Methodist church (page 70); the deteriorating, yet noble, school tower in Raleigh (page 69); or the St. Boniface Church steeple in Fulda (page 106). Even though the majority of the places we visited didn%u2019t make