The Toppled Shack

About the author

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I am by vocation a Professor of English at South Carolina State University. My interest in photography began when I lectured in universities in mainland China (1981-‘85) and wished to record the country’s landscape and cities. This interest was reinforced when I spent a semester (Spring 1998) at the Camargo Foundation, a research institute in southern France. With a new Nikon, I was fascinated by the region’s geological formations, vineyards and other agricultural features, and crumbling architecture. Returning to South Carolina and moving on to medium-format, I discovered that rural areas in central South Carolina offer uncountable photographic opportunities. Long an agricultural hub, the region features old houses, barns, sheds, and shacks of all sizes. In many cases, despite the casual origins of many of the structures just mentioned, the skilled workmanship is obvious. Frequently, the lumber has been unevenly cut yet beautifully crafted. Intriguing patterns of color and texture appear because paint residues, interspersed with patches of fungi, are streaked across expanses of bare but multi-toned wood. Then there are the metal roofs with their radiant rust. In addition to France and the U.S., I have photographed in Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and the U.K.

www.thetoppledshack.com has been created as a community service by Nathaniel Wallace, Professor of English at South Carolina State University (Orangeburg, South Carolina) and by Giordano Angeletti, Webmaster, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, South Carolina State University.
Text and images are © Nathaniel Wallace, 2017.