Rural Architecture

North Dakota

I used to have a student in one of my mentorship programs who told me where he lived was so rural there wasn’t any architecture to photograph.

Of course, I challenged him to find it. There is architecture everywhere. Buildings, farms, bridges, it’s there.

Rural architecture has so many stories to tell, so much character it often gets lumped in with the abandoned genre but there can be much more to it than that. ⁠ ⁠ This is the Hi-Line train trestle in Valley City, North Dakota. I purposely made this stop on my way home from Butte, ND so I could photograph this bridge. So cool.

Details and textures from one of the farm buildings at one of the family homesteads in Butte, ND.

Love the colors and textures in this one from one of the farm buildings at the same family homestead.

Butte, ND was founded in 1906. The population as of 2019 was 76. I grew up going there every summer as this is where my parents were from.

One of the few buildings still standing in Bergen, ND. My grandparents moved here after they sold their farm in Butte.

Many of the homes are empty or used for storage in Butte.

Rust and worn barn wood just go together. From one of the farm buildings at one of the Bauer family homesteads in Butte, ND.

Another view of the Hi-Line train trestle in Valley City, North Dakota.

A leftover building on a friend’s farm. Likely used as storage these days.

There is always architecture to find. I love being able to get others to keep an eye out for it. Especially when they feel like there isn’t any.

I am a photographer, educator, mentor & photo tour guide.

If I have to classify my work it’s mostly fine art photography. Based outside of Chicago, I enjoy photographing architecture, traveling as much as possible and just wandering in nature with my camera are my favorite things to do.

You can find more of my work in these galleries.

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