Jason Giordano and Tracy Buchholz spent last winter trekking through Pennsylvania and New Jersey taking photos of decaying resorts, schools, factories and more for “Hidden History Exposed,” an exhibition highlighting their friendship and their love for photography. It will be on display from Jan. 13-Feb. 24 at William Way LGBT Community Center.
Buchholz and Giordano talked to PGN about their adventures exploring long-forgotten locations and the pictures they inspired.
PGN: What made you want to seek out decaying buildings, and did you know that you were going to make an exhibition when you set out to take these photos?
TB: No idea that it would turn into an exhibition at first! For me, exploring over two winters came at a time when I needed a break from the Philly LGBTQ scene. I was a bit heartbroken, so I funneled those feelings into a creative work. For years I used to throw parties in the community. But this project is definitely the most personal work I’ve done and shared publicly. I think it shows through when you see the pictures. Unintentionally, I think, a lot of my photos have a quality of sadness to them or a feeling of solitude. So for me, putting them up on a wall to be viewed, and judged, is not the easiest thing to do, but it felt like good closure for that time in my life. Maybe I’ll send that person an invite.
JG: I was always an avid photographer growing up. My parents used to yell at me for wasting so much film. As I grew older, I grew out of photography but I would always say, “Now, that would make a great photo.” One day I was driving to an appointment and there was this old abandoned graveyard. I mean, actual headstones sticking out of the forest. I knew Tracy had expressed an interest in this type of photography and I asked her if she would like to come up with me one day and do a shoot. The rest was history!
PGN: Would you say that the two of you have similar styles in photography?
JG: I would say similar yet unique at the same time. We come home and compare photographs and I’m always like, “Where the hell did you see that?”
TB: There are 70-plus photos in this exhibit. I would say our style is pretty different. I think you’ll notice that throughout the exhibition. What was funny is that when we would get home from these visiting these abandoned places, we barely had any of the same photos. We would wander off and do our own thing for part of the trip. Technically speaking, we use different lenses and other equipment and have a different approach to taking pictures.
PGN: What about New Jersey and Pennsylvania was ideal for this kind of subject matter?
TB: For starters, there are so many incredible buildings that are abandoned in Philadelphia. They’re architecturally stunning and so rich in history, the same in New Jersey. Jason and I are both well-traveled in and out of the United States, but there was something about these places being literally in front of you … places you would walk by and marvel at but never get to experience. We were curious about what the buildings were and how they became abandoned. Also, once we started venturing out to places and posting the pics, folks would send us places to visit that we had never even heard of. It was wild, the types of places sitting right in your own backyard that you didn’t even know existed!
JG: I think what makes New Jersey and Pennsylvania ideal is the age of the nation. It is the birthplace of the nation, hence we have some of the oldest and most abandoned structures in the area. Everywhere you look, when you open your eyes is a structure that was once in its heyday.
PGN: Did you research the places you were going to visit beforehand or did you stumble upon these locations by chance?
TB: We definitely researched the places we went before going. It’s part of the fun going to these places, to have an understanding of the history and contribution to the community that they are located in. Not only that, but some of these places aren’t even on maps anymore. We would hear about places, or see pictures on Instagram, and immediately start doing research at the beginning of the week, and by the end of the week we had picked where we would visit, and had all kinds of print-outs of the history, facts, etc. For Jason and I, half the fun was the process of researching and finding places we wanted to go, and then the other part was being able to go and photograph them!
JG: A little bit of both. At first, we would stumble into some of these places, but as our work became more known, there is a whole network of people who do the same thing that are very secretive; they started trading tips on how to get in. We would also do as much research online before going. I’m a little bit of a history buff, so I wanted to know everything: who worked there, what they did, then I would imagine the hustle and bustle and how the closures impacted entire families, entire regions even.
PGN: Were there ever any safety concerns during your travels?
JG: Yes. Safety was always our highest concern, which is why Tracy made me go first. Just kidding. Some of the buildings were filled with asbestos, so masks were essential. We carried tactical bags with us, which included multiple items in case of emergencies. And proceeding with caution was usually our first concern until I asked Tracy to hurry up and she fell through a second-story window, totally my fault. I think she got over it now.
TB: For me, it was less about safety concerns. I rappelled down 29 stories this year for a fundraiser. Part of having a photography partner like Jason is that I’ve known him for over 10 years, so there was already a certain level of trust, and as these excursions went on, that trust grew. I may have fallen through a window, but on all of our explorations, that was one of the least scary things that could have happened. I had to climb ropes, ladders, scurry across planks. It was more like a challenge: challenging your mind to overcome these things you never saw yourself doing before and then just doing them. However, I [would] always tell my mom where I was going the night before … just in case!
PGN: Were there any places in particular that stand out in the exhibition?
JG: Oh wow, that is a tough question. There were some factories I would just sit down and listen for 15 or so minutes and imagine the foreman yelling at the workers to get back to work. I’d imagine the worker coming home and being treated by a hug from his wife and dinner. There were churches where I would sit in a broken pew and flip through the songbooks left there and imagine the choir. There were schools where me and Tracy would sit on the swing sets, and I could still hear the laughter from children at recess. They were all so incredible in their own way.
TB: There’s an abandoned resort that I’ll never forget. You walk through the woods and suddenly enter a time warp. Everything was exactly as it was when it closed for good in 1989. Everything was frozen in time, from the infirmary to the gift shop to the hair salon and old-school theater. And I do mean frozen: Everything in the resort was frozen to the floor; it was wild, we could ice skate through the main lobby. It was incredible. It’s also amazing and sad that when these places close, people just up and leave these buildings. They’re just left to decay.
PGN: What is it about this exhibition that will appeal to LGBT audiences?
TB: I think since we both are LGBTQ-identified, I would hope that would appeal to people. Also, this exhibit is not just about exploring abandoned places, but also about a real and long-standing friendship, which I think is important and sometimes hard to find in our community. Plus, this is an event outside the bars, as well as this exhibition took place outside of the bars.
JG: When I started to post some of my work on Facebook, I received a really great response. I think it was more about, “Wow. Jason is gay and Tracy is a lesbian and they are out doing this kind of stuff, why can’t we?” We had many people ask us how to get into it or even how to get into a hobby they liked. And the answer was always, “Just jump in. Safely of course.”
PGN: Do you think you will be taking more photographic excursions like this in the future, and if so, will the subject matter be the same?
TB: I still have friends that text me to go exploring. If it sounds interesting, I would probably be convinced, but I view this as a finished project. Also, the climate of urban exploring has definitely changed since we started. I have many graffiti and artist friends, but I’ll never understand why these beautiful abandoned places get defaced.
JG: We will be taking more photographic excursions in the near future. It will be entirely different than this one. The next one will specifically focus on individuals: individuals in their workplace, individuals in the home life, individuals with their friends and family. After all, when we talk about the LGBT community, we are everywhere.
There will be an opening-night reception for “Hidden History Exposed” at 6 p.m. Jan. 13 at William Way LGBT Community Center, 1315 Spruce St. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/TLBTBProductions/.