From the Middle of Nowhere

Stacked cut tree branches on a snowy corn field in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

A mowed backyard motocross track with cottonwood trees and snow on an overcast day photograph by Eric Zeigler

A painted tree branch felled for construction of a highway in the yard of a razed home with a barn in the background photograph by Eric Zeigler

Chickens hiding in oak leaves by some trees and a stone photograph by Eric Zeigler

Piles of mulch photographed during sunset with snow and water puddles in the foreground photograph by Eric Zeigler

Orange cones marking out a dirt bike and ATV track behind a house in northwest ohio overcast day photograph by Eric Zeigler

Grain Elevator in northwest ohio concrete silos photograph by Eric Zeigler

Barn on i-beams and wheels moved by building movers to open up space for a new highway in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

Examining the partially demolished garage floor that made way for a new highway in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

A swingset seat wrapped around another swing chain from high winds in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

A fogged up window in a barn looking down on a corn field and grass in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

A combine hopper partially full of corn with a reflection of a grain bin photographed by Eric Zeigler

Burning apple and peach tree orchard prunings in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

Earth mover caterpillar tractor clearing way for a new highway in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

a hill of dirt created by earthmovers for a new highway in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

A field lane with puddles from heavy rains at sunset in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

A one room school house turned into a garage with a faded white garage door in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

A house on i-beams and wheels ready to be moved to make way for a new highway in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

Ross in a ford F-250 pickup truck painted in primer that says "I Love" in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

Excavator tracks left from demolishing a house to make way for a new highway in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

Remains of a small treehouse after the treetop has been cut out making way for a new highway in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

pruning apple orchard on ladder in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

working on a 1959 Ford pickup truck in a barn in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

camo painted pickup truck hiding behind a pile of branches in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

A final edge row of corn that could not be harvested because of the silt fence installed too close to the crop making way for a new highway in northwest Ohio photograph by Eric Zeigler

This is before it was loud. Before the highway brought the tire whine and the rumble strip growl.

The stillness of the landscape around my hometown of Waterville, Ohio was the foundation for all my memories of home. The new Route 24 bypass threatened to end that stillness. In response, I made photographs of the surrounding area to capture pieces of what I felt make up the essence of the rural Midwestern experience.

The new highway would be 300 feet wide with low access, cutting off some country roads and forcing others into the air with overpasses on top of the new dominant descriptor of the landscape. I reacted by starting a record of the nature of this place: immense, slow, quiet.

Many places are suffering a similar reality—the success of an area can be its own undoing. I made these photographs as a way to remember what can be lost or degraded by our need for efficiency and to live in desirable places. There is no anger or resentment in these pictures, only love and melancholy.

Projects