katrencikphoto
Youngstown, OH
All photography is about the past, of course. Most photography is about the past when it was the present.
But some photography is about hoped-for futures that were lost in the past but remain visible in the present. Jesse Katrencik has been working steadily in that approach for as long as I’ve known him, documenting the small towns and the slowly disintegrating industrial centers of Western Pennsylvania with a compassionate eye. He’s not interested in the decay. His interest is in the people who lived and worked in these places.
What we see here isn’t an abandoned garage. We’re looking at somebody’s dream. Some working class guy bought this building; good corner location, small but affordable, room to expand. He set up shop, sold his skills to the community, provided them with a much-needed service. But decisions made by other people in other places and other countries caused the economy to shift. The people in the community had to adjust, non-essential car repairs were put off. Dreams collapsed and died.
But there’s nobility to be seen here. There’s the courage to take a risk. Even if the risk didn’t pay off, the courage must be honored. And that’s Jesse Katrencik’s job.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
