Photographer Retraces Oregon’s Brutal Trail of Tears With Wet-Plate Digital camera

By any measure, photographer Nolan Streitberger has constructed a observe that bridges artwork, historical past, and the profoundly private. His work, notably his acclaimed challenge Oregon’s Trail of Tears, transforms lovely pictures into each historic doc and dialogue, a way of reclaiming reminiscence and giving voice to tales lengthy neglected. But Streitberger’s photographic journey started nearly accidentally.

“I first learned photography in my junior year in high school. I was accepted into Oregon State University’s JumpstART program, a pre-college art program for high school students. My first choice was painting, my second was illustration, and my last choice was photography. When I found out I’d been assigned photography, I was pretty upset, I didn’t even own a camera,” Streitberger recollects.

Unpredictable Creative Discovery

It’s a narrative that speaks to the unpredictable nature of inventive discovery. What started as a reluctant class task quickly grew to become a lifelong pursuit. Armed along with his father’s previous Vivitar 35mm SLR, Streitberger entered the darkroom for the primary time, unaware of the importance that second would maintain.

“As soon as I walked into that class taught by Harrison Branch, I knew I was going to love it. We rolled our own film, learned how to develop it, and make prints in the darkroom. I was hooked,” he says.

That spark ignited a curiosity that will form his creative id. Years later, after working as a graphic designer, Streitberger discovered himself at one other crossroads when a layoff at Hewlett-Packard coincided along with his spouse’s return to the workforce. It was a tough time, but in addition a pivotal one.

“I picked up the camera again and I haven’t put it down since,” he says.

That return to pictures marked not only a inventive revival, however the starting of a deeper exploration of that means and technique in his work.

An Artist Working within the Medium of Photography

For Streitberger, pictures shouldn’t be merely about capturing what the attention sees; as a substitute, it’s about translating emotion and expertise via the visible language of sunshine, shadow, and texture. His tasks differ broadly, but every is guided by a want to attach picture to concept.

“I consider myself an artist who works in the medium of photography. I like my work to create dialogue and make people think. Sometimes I achieve this with subtle undertones of metaphor, but lately it’s bold and in your face,” he explains.

His most formidable challenge, Oregon’s Trail of Tears, exemplifies that philosophy. Created utilizing the historic moist plate collodion course of, the sequence paperwork the route taken through the pressured elimination of Southern Oregon’s Indigenous tribes within the 1850s. The challenge blends analysis, fieldwork, and artistry to disclose how landscapes can bear witness to trauma and survival.

“My wife and daughter are registered tribal members. The Native American culture is a large part of our household as we are very involved with the tribe. I knew I wanted to blend Oregon history with my photography, not only history, but the impacts of Euro-American settlement and how it still resonates today,” Streitberger explains.

“While reading microfilm reals in the National Archives database, I discovered the journal kept by the Indian Agent in charge of the removal of Southern Oregon tribes. This journal was remarkably detailed and recorded daily, it compelled me to narrow my focus down to documenting this specific journey.”

Reconstructing a Forgotten Path

Transforming that concept right into a tangible visible narrative required years of analysis, persistence, and technical ingenuity. Streitberger’s course of for Oregon’s Trail of Tears started not with a digicam, however with archives, maps, and microfilm reels.

“I spent a couple years using the Bureau of Land Management’s digital archives and downloading original survey maps from the 1850s. I overlaid modern GIS maps over the antique survey maps in Photoshop and retraced the old road onto the modern map. This gave me the information I needed to then transfer that data into Google Maps. I did this for every mile of the Rogue River Trail of Tears,” he says.

“From there I could easily measure the daily distances traveled and recorded in George H. Ambrose’s Journal, the Indian Agent in charge of the forced removal. These distances aligned perfectly with the descriptions mentioned in his journal entries which allowed me to locate the camp locations. Once my research was completed, I could start photographing these sites.”

That analysis laid the groundwork for a photographic journey that was as a lot about discovery as creation. Each {photograph} required meticulous preparation, usually in distant or inhospitable areas, guided by GPS coordinates drawn from his reconstructed route.

The technical calls for have been equally daunting. Streitberger works with a transportable darkroom, actually an Eskimo pop-up ice fishing tent, the place he develops his plates on-site utilizing nineteenth-century chemistry.

“I have to bring my whole darkroom and all my supplies with me. I prepare and develop the plates inside the tent, adjusting the chemistry as the temperature changes. My collodion is stored in a cooler, and all my dry supplies in a tote bag. These supplies are always packed up and ready to go,” he says.

Even the act of establishing usually grew to become a part of the expertise.

“When people see me set up a tent, they often get upset or curious,” he admits. “Once they see the camera and some of my images, they normally calm down and find it interesting.”

Each session grew to become a stability of artwork, science, and diplomacy, an echo of the challenges confronted by early photographers who additionally labored beneath unpredictable circumstances.

Seeing Landscapes as Portraits

Although a lot of Streitberger’s work focuses on locations, it’s, at its core, about folks. His strategy to photographing landscapes is guided by empathy and a way of reverence for the human tales embedded inside them.

“Most of my work revolves around people, human life and our emotions. Even with these landscapes, I approach these sites like I’m taking a portrait of them. It’s about how humans and this land interact and affect each other,” he says.

This philosophy informs each his inventive course of and his technical selections. Whether utilizing his Nikon D800 or his vintage Eastman No. 33A large-format digicam from 1935, Streitberger is guided much less by comfort and extra by the tactile connection between artist and picture.

“I started shooting large format, experimenting with ortho-litho films and paper negatives. Now, if I’m not shooting digital, I’m using antique brass barrel lenses from the 1800s. My shutter is my hand,” he says.

There’s one thing deeply symbolic in that act, a human contact governing the second when gentle meets movie, as if every publicity turns into a handshake between the previous and current.

A Moment of Validation

The creation of Oregon’s Trail of Tears was full of challenges, but in addition moments of profound affirmation. Among all the pictures within the sequence, one stands out to Streitberger as a turning level: Day 26: Mr. Smith’s Farm.

“When I was taking that photograph, I had my darkroom set up on the side of the highway and noticed a sign that read ‘Historical Marker Ahead,’” he recollects.

“The plaque marked the Daniel Smith Donation Land Claim home site from 1852. The journal entry for that day stated, ‘We drove today a distance of twelve miles. Camped on an oak grove near the claim of Mr. Smith.’”

It was a second when years of analysis, persistence, and care aligned with extraordinary precision. Standing there along with his digicam, Streitberger realized that his reconstructed route, mapped fully from house, had led him inside fifty ft of the precise web site described almost two centuries earlier.

“That moment brought validation to the whole project,” he says.

Looking Ahead

For Streitberger, the challenge is much from over, every accomplished picture serves as each closure and invitation, inspiring him to proceed exploring Oregon’s advanced and sometimes painful historical past via pictures.

“I want to continue this project. There were several instances of forced removal here in Oregon. There was another trail of tears along the coast line, and of course Chief Joseph’s Flight of the Nez Perce. But all of that takes a lot of time and money. As an artist, I have the time, but the money is the hardest part. Oregon’s Trail of Tears was funded by grants from The National Endowment of the Arts, The Oregon Arts Commission, and The Kinsman Foundation,” he says.

For now, he hopes to publish a photograph e book of Oregon’s Trail of Tears and to additional discover historic and various photographic processes that deepen his engagement with the medium’s roots.

“I like learning old techniques and figuring out how to make them my own,” Streitberger says.

At its coronary heart, Nolan Streitberger’s work is about reflection, the pause between recognition and understanding. His observe reminds viewers that pictures shouldn’t be solely about documenting what’s seen, however about revealing what endures.

“When I open up a photograph and it stops me in my tracks,” he says, “I know I did it right.”

Image credit: Photographs by Nolan Streitberger