Now I have revealed the grand arc of my photography in 2024, four long trips into the metaphorical waves of the Ordered World. As every moment of pure immersion came and went, I naturally found myself entering a creative valley in the subsequent month. At least, that's what it felt like as I entered May last year, and it was definitely a low-key moment compared to the soaring highs of the Texas trip. I didn't even pick up my camera during the rest of April, so clearly I needed a little break. But as I reassess my photos from that time I can see that I actually remained in tune with the Ordered World, making several strong artistic forays during the month as summer—and the final phase of What My Left Hand Is Doing—began. Let's get into it!

The first Friday of May, my birthday, Jesus and I drove to Chicago and spent the day in the city—exploring new places, taking photos, and finally seeing one of our favorite bands, Cheekface, perform at the Bottom Lounge. It was a great time, and I took the opportunity to shoot several things that I'd wanted to for a while, starting with the Junction City Restaurant, an abandoned building near Rolling Prairie, Indiana. I'd passed this place many times on trips to Chicago, and I'm happy that we were able to stop and take a good crack at representing this location on film; I got several photos I appreciate! When we got to the city we visited two cemeteries that Malia and I first explored back in March, ones that I thought Jesus would enjoy seeing and that I wanted to try shooting again. We were successful once more, and I was specifically happy to retake a shot at Saint Henry Catholic Cemetery, which I had tried the first time but lost to light leaks. I don't have a lot to say about these photos, other than to point out that they demonstrate where I was artistically by this point in the year—many straight-on compositions (an increasing specialty of mine) paired with more complex framings, building on everything I'd been working on that year so far. As an opening salvo to May, it was solid, and the weekend had only started!

*Junction City Restaurant, Near Rolling Prairie, Indiana.*

*Saint Henry Catholic Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois.*

The next day Malia and I headed to New Buffalo, where we spent a little weekend getaway courtesy of our friends Carin and Ben, who generously let us stay at their place while they were out of town. Along the way we stopped at a cemetery I had missed while driving the same direction the day before with Jesus, another location I'd wanted to photograph before but hadn't found the time. I took a strong shot here, but I found the best photos of the day later, when we walked from the house to the New Buffalo Beach, a nice afternoon stroll that took us through the downtown area. While on our way, we encountered a faded billboard telling us to "Enjoy Living by Lake Michigan" behind a small sign advertising firewood for sale. The strongest aspect of the photo is, of course, the contrast between the washed-out sign and the verdant greens of the surrounding trees and grass, but there are also some little details that cement this image as my favorite of the month. Looking closer at the firewood sign, there are two more things advertised there, a pick up truck ($150), and Gallegos Landscaping, LLC. The landscaping ad is particularly ironic to me since the grass around the signs has been left alone long enough to grow dandelions, not exactly a ringing endorsement of their services! I also like the way that the red of the For Sale sign is complemented by the sign for a GoLo gas station in the background, as well as a few other spots of red between them. The direct sunlight and fluffy clouds are the cherry on top, presenting the most picturesque lighting for a scene that shows New Buffalo to be more nuanced than just another classic beach town. I didn't know it when I took the photo, but this became one of my standout shots from the whole year, so I'm very glad we found it when we did!

*Rossburg Cemetery, Near LaPorte, Indiana.*

*Firewood For Sale—New Buffalo, Michigan.*

I have always found the New Buffalo Beach to be slightly disappointing as a destination for photography; with very few dunes and no lighthouse, I often struggle to find interesting things to shoot there. This time, however, I succeeded in taking another strong photo for the day, which I accomplished by walking onto the main outcropping of rocks that stretches out from the beach a good ways into the lake. From here it was easy to frame a composition with the outcropping splitting the frame in half, creating a clear division between the blue water of Lake Michigan and the brown muck coming out from the Galien River. Like the Firewood For Sale image, this photo shows the ironic side of a beach town like this—the constant use of the river for boating and sewage has polluted it to the point that it no longer looks attractive, even though it was probably one of the main reasons the town was founded here. Despite this, I do think the shot is beautiful, as I was once again able to utilize the fluffy clouds and bright sunlight to represent a calm moment on a gorgeous day, perfectly capturing how I felt being there that weekend. Of course, as usual for trips Malia and I take, the good weather didn't last, and the sunny and humid afternoon gave way to a storm system that night, bringing the temperatures down by the time we went to Michigan City on Sunday morning. The last few photos I have from our trip, therefore, are much gloomier than the first ones, although they are not bad by any means! I don't have any commentary to add to them, but I do think they closed out the weekend nicely, the cloudy weather being a good metaphor for the ending of our mini vacation and reflecting our exhaustion as we crashed back at home after our adventures.

*New Buffalo Beach, New Buffalo, Michigan.*

*Washington Park Beach, Michigan City, Indiana.*

*Oink's Dutch Treat, New Buffalo, Michigan.*

Toward the end of the month Malia went on an ecology class lab trip to Belize, where she spent ten days studying the marine life of the barrier reefs there and enjoying the local culture. This was awesome for her, but it also meant that I was left at home alone with the cats, depressedly thinking about how sad my life would be if she drowned or something while gone. Obviously I wasn't that worried, but it was weird to have her away for that long, and so I took the opportunity to take several little photo trips during that time. One of these trips was just a quick excursion during my lunch break, when I made it out to Ardmore (the area just south of the South Bend Airport), where Jesus had told me about some things I might be interested in seeing. While there I photographed two types of photos: clouds/power lines and reflective signs. The clouds were fluffy and sparse that day, and I was able to find a few different framings where they interact compositionally with telephone poles and power lines in cool ways. Finding the shot of the three red reflective signs, on the other hand, kicked off a fascination with those types of signs, one that continued to this moment; I have a handful of different photos of this subject now, and I feel that I've only gotten better at shooting them as time has gone on. But these two are a strong start of this mini series, and it was these images that I was most excited about after developing and seeing what I shot that day. Although this was a quick adventure constrained by my work day, it made me happy to get out and explore the Ordered World once more, especially in the context of my renewed loneliness without Malia.

My final photo trip of the month was to Michigan again, this time to Warren Dunes and then to the town of Cassopolis, which I'd never visited. On my way there I stopped and photographed a giant chicken statue at the Rise N Shine Cafe just outside of Niles; like many photographers in my genre, I am compelled by such an example of American kitsch, and in this case the flags flying around it just add to the sense I have that this is a uniquely American phenomenon, or at least that we've perfected it. Arriving in Cassopolis later, I found another example of good American signage in the form of an old Sinclair gas station. Reading up on this just now I learned that it is not in service but has been restored as a historical icon, which I find interesting and admirable, and of course enjoyable as it gave me the chance to shoot something not from this century, but looking as if it was new. The final three photos I have from Cassopolis show me once more in the zone, capturing favorite subjects like power lines, interesting signage, and finally an Extraction, one of the few I have taken on film since that time. They represent my photography in May well—new places, new environments, but still my same strong methods for composing and framing these locations and subjects. I was still finding the Ordered World as the summer began, and I finished the month excited to see what else this season would bring me!

May 2024 - Rolls 174-179

© 2025 Jonathan Borton

May 2024 - Rolls 174-179

April 2024 - Rolls 167-173

© 2025 Jonathan Borton