Mark Zurek & Stephen Zurek

There are days when I wish I could photograph the glorious landscape, or capture the goldensunsets. Instead I find myself drawn toward another time and place. I find something appealing in the world of shadows, the light conditions after a rain, the darker and often opposite perspectives.I was born in the 50’s, grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. The world I knew changed so quickly, so completely. It’s monuments now reside in farmer’s field gone to seed ,along neglected back roads not known to exist. I see it rusting in the scrap yards , the old blue collar neighborhoods with the boarded up storefronts and broken streets. This was the end of a unique era where hopes and dreams went hand in hand with the lunch bucket men who worked the fields and factories, the women who raised the family, deeply rooted in traditions of honor and respect.We see these abandoned homesteads, the expressively crafted old vehicles left to weather and return to the elements. And something causes us to pause for a split second, perhaps to consider what may have happened to the dreams of those who once were there. This is my place. This is where I will use a simple capture of light to allow that split second to expand to a longer consideration of these people whose lives were dedicated to the hope of the better world for their families.I am a classically trained photographer, what you see is not only what I saw through the lens, but in my heart, my imagination. I currently use digital media, and finish my expression in the digital darkroom but do not change the scene captured in the lens.