The Summer Campaign

Somewhere in the woods...

Welcome back. During these short, bleak days of December there's no better time to cast one's memory back to the events of warmer, sunnier times...like the invasion of Europe.

This past summer I was able to get to my favorite location and the seminal epicenter of this entire project, Peddocks Island and the (dwindling) remains of Fort Andrews on four fun'n'sun-filled occasions.   As recently as 2009 this place was a (somewhat) intact Army installation last used during World War II. Ironically its last use by the Army was as an Italian POW camp, though it is most widely known as the place where the 2010 Martin Scorsese movie, Shutter Island, was vaguely  purported to have taken place.  When I first discovered the fort by chance during the summer of 2001 I could not believe what an incredible find it was - an entire World War II era,  MGM back lot-style location was essentially at my disposal.  Now,  the "authorities" have stepped in and ruined things as always.  Most of the magnificently crumbling quarters and support buildings have been razed while the remaining ones have been sealed up.  Near the 6" and 3" gun batteries, in an area I used to call "The Bocage" after the Normandy battle zone because of its thick overarching vegetation,  there are now fucking things called "yurts".  World War Wonderland has vanished for all practical purposes.  America successfully buries its past once again.  Start busing in the slack-jawed tourists who have "never seen a seagull before", the bad music thumping through the wilderness from the flotilla of cruise boats and, of course the spray paint.

However there are still intriguing places to be found by those willing to pay the price where the modern age has not wiped out the last flickers of history and imagination.  Deep in the woods are located the remains of two fire control structures, one accepted into service on D-Day, 1944 and the other from World War I which is made from that wonder product of the age, cemestos .  There are also the ruins of a dormitory and one of the first radio stations in the Army - more on this in a later post.  Their existence is owed to the fact that they are virtually uncharted and are so overgrown that one can literally be 20 feet away and not see them.  Did I mention that one must go through a sea of poison ivy and deep waves of incredibly tough vines whose only purpose in nature is seemingly to produce huge thorns?  Now that I've told everyone exactly where it is I can finally reveal that this is where I love to spend my summer vacation.  The concrete WWII bunker-like structure which I had located last year after numerous attempts was my base of operations.  (It also makes for a great place to watch birds from, but better bring a bucket of DEET, those mosquitoes are hungry!) As a testament to just how isolated it is it, there is no graffiti and there is still glass in some of the windows - unheard of features in today's Coast Artillery environment!   From my historic hideaway I would go "on patrol" in search of the the highly elusive radio station and beyond. 

The overall search for these locations occurred over the course of multiple visits to Peddocks and took place over the span of at least four years.  Only after repeated attempts and extensive research of maps, photos and satellite images in addition to learning to use a compass and later a GPS device  - not to mention a machete - I finally took the top of the hill for good this year.   These are the kind of good, hardcore missions, the ones where you're sweaty, sore, banged up, maybe even bleeding a little as well as being visually exhausted by the end of it,  that keep this project going.  

After all, the best pictures are always in the worst places.

P.S. - If you're planning on visiting the bunker next summer please let us know in advance so we can set the Claymores.

The Lost Year and The Commando Raid

It's been quite a while since I've done a post obviously.  Without going into long and tedious detail about the circumstances that knocked me out of action, I will just say that it was year that began with my camera getting smashed and went on to feature far too much involvement with my aging and highly dysfunctional family.  'Nuff said.

One photo "mission" (as I call my shoots) that may have been a turning point, at least in my own outlook, was a visit to the former West Reservation of Fort Greene and Battery 109.  It is located in what is now known as Fishermen's State Park in Narragansett Rhode Island.  When I had gone there in December 2012 I found that the bunker had been fenced off and that a good deal of the vegetation that had enshrouded it was being removed.  I was still able to gain entry though because I happened to notice one of the gates was left unlocked and there was no one around on frigid grey afternoon.  In January I returned with a sense that this might be the last time I would have personal unrestricted access to the unrestored battery. 

Battery 109 is a Series 100 bunker built during World War II to house two 16 inch guns - the largest guns in the U.S. inventory that were similar to those mounted on the top of the line battleships in service at the time.  These bunkers are massive earth covered concrete structures some 600 feet long and at least 35 feet high.  Battery 109 was never armed as by the time it was completed the threat from a coastal engagementwith large surface ships had long passed.  Now it stands vacant in the middle of a summertime tourist encampment surrounded by Winnebagos and trailers.  God knows what "They" are going to with it now that it has caught the interest of the authorities.

When I arrived at the park I discovered that not only had the bunker remained fenced off, but that there was a state work crew with a park ranger in tow doing something or other with huge cutting wheel in the rear of Gun Emplacement 2.  Though one can usually gain entry to these locations without too much trouble it is a good idea to exercise discretion when attempting to do so.  Battery109 is posted as "State Property - No Tresspassing!" after all.  So, with that in mind,  I was forced to climb the battery and traverse the length of it to see if somehow I could get in through Emplacement 1 at the far end.  I was able to slip behind the fencing from the top of the bunker in proceed down the slope and over the concrete retaining wall at Gun Emplacement 1.  From that end of the long corridor that connects the gun positions I was able to see that the crew was not actually working inside the emplacement, but were outside at the entrance. 

This is when one of those strange epiphanies or realizations that have been so much a part of this work came to me.  Over the course of time my own appearance while photographing had transformed.  I had gradually adopted more and more genuine, contemporary Army gear including a full camo uniform mostly out of these items' genuine usefulness for doing this kind of work.  (The rugged ACUs - Army Combat Uniforms - are really good for crawling around the sometimes inhospitable terrain around the various abandoned structures and the "Camelbak" water supply system that fits into one's backpack is a godsend!)

It occurred to me that as I had become outfitted in "full battle rattle" with uniform, black watch cap, tactical flashlight and three day assault pack, etc.,  that I could sneak, commando-like, down the dark corridor and into the power and ventilation rooms I was interested in shooting located in the center of the battery.   That particular moment of personal involvement, of stepping out from behind the camera and becoming like a character in my own own story at that particular time, led me to take the ultimate step towards full immersion in this project.  I would become a character who is the embodiment of these kinds of places, of the years of lies and violence that gave birth to what we have become today.

The mission that I later named "Operation Landlord" was an exhilarating success.  The next time out I would introduce "Mr. Skin" to the world.

Stay tuned, cosmoliners...