Monessen in Brooklyn
Monessen in Brooklyn
“It will be American steel that will fortify American's crumbling bridges. It will be American steel that sends our skyscrapers soaring into the sky. It will be American steel that rebuilds our inner cities. It will be American hands that remake this country, and it will be American energy - mined from American resources - that powers this country.” (Donald Trump speaks during a presidential campaign stop in Monessen, Pennsylvania on June 28, 2016)
“Monessen is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 7,720 at the 2010 census. In 1940, 20,257 people lived there. Monessen is the most southwestern municipality of Westmoreland County. Steel-making was a prominent industry in Monessen, which was a Rust Belt borough in the "Mon Valley" of southwestern Pennsylvania that became a third-class city in 1921.” (From Wikipedia)
When I visited Monessen in Pennsylvania for the first time, I wanted to see the dark side of this town such as forgotten steel mills or abandoned houses. My income at that time was not stable to make a living, so I might have felt sympathy for this town. I just might have superimposed my feelings on it.
After I came back to Brooklyn in New York, I frequented a cafe in my neighborhood to edit the pictures I shot in Monessen. One day, when I was looking over these pictures as usual at an American Heritage style cafe, I felt as if I were still in Monessen. If I had gone out of the cafe, the scenery of Monessen would have spread out before me.
I went back to Monessen again. My feelings cleared up unlike before. I was absorbed in shooting the scenery. I focused on the charm and the beauty of the scenery when the light changed. I realized that I could capture “photography” only when we could see at the moment.
