Night photographer Mike Cooper has just released his second book, “Abandoned Texas: Under a Lone Star Moon.” Driving many miles, Mike has explored every nook and cranny of this immense state, illuminating mysterious, forgotten locations with often colorful lighting, creating the image in-camera.
Mike has covered broad expanses of the Midwest and Southern United States, offering fantastic glimpses of abandoned places lit by the moon, stars and handheld light.
Texas is a huge state! How many miles did you cover while creating the night photos for this book?
“I actually tried to add up all the miles as close as possible. I was working heavily on the Texas book. Beginning in 2015, I drove well over 10,000 miles. Many times, I drove at least half the day. Then from there, I would drive another 200–300 miles to the various photography sites.”
Tell us a little about how you create such fascinating night photos.
“I am using very long exposures, frequently 3–4 minutes. The colors that are visible inside the building are all a product of me opening the shutter, running around in the dark with a handheld light to light the inside of the structure, then back to the camera to review what just happened.
“The moon becomes the primary light source. Any added light I add will also be visible. I am using a Protomachines LED1 for the lighting of my subjects. I can select any full-spectrum RGB color with the twist of a knob. This really lets me create something truly one of a kind.”
Why do you choose long exposure night photography to showcase these abandoned locations?
“I took many photos of quite a few places along Route 66, many of which are long abandoned many years ago. My ultimate goal was to have some really cool photos to make into prints and put some of them on the walls in our house. Who knows how much I had spent on film and processing of the film. Probably enough to pay off the national debt. None of the photos I had taken ever looked very interesting or had some sort of ‘wow’ factor.
“However, when I discovered night photography/light painting it opened up a whole new world of ways of making some old ugly semi-interesting buildings look really amazing.”
Do you have a favorite photo in the book? What’s the story behind that?
“Picking a favorite is a little like trying to choose which of your children is your favorite. The Futuro house is probably my favorite house, because well, it’s a house that looks like a flying saucer. And who wouldn’t want to live in one of those?
“The Booth School would be my favorite school because the builder took the time to design the building to resemble a Spanish mission rather than making it look like a box.”
“My favorite military photo is one of the images of the Rattlesnake Bomber Base. I especially like the image where I had used a fisheye lens with it almost underneath one of the side walls facing towards the opposite wall. I feel the use of a fisheye lens really makes the structure look even larger than what it actually is.”
How much research do you do before heading out with your camera to photograph these abandoned places?
“I tend to do a fair amount of research to try and determine accessibility of the location as well as the condition of the location, which is almost more important than access. I had gone to a location a couple years ago that was in a very rural location. After parking the car it was close to a mile walk to get to the area where I was planning on spending a few hours shooting. However, upon arriving, I discovered that since the last time Google Maps had photographed there, everything had been torn down.”
What’s the strangest encounter you had while creating night photos for this book?
“I had been photographing the ruins of a large building on the grounds of a school campus for about an hour on a Friday night. However, I discovered that after I had come in, a gate had closed behind me. The gate did not trigger to open like by getting up close to a sensor. I needed a code to open the gate.”
(If anyone knows the code to open the gate, please let Mike know! Thanks. -Ken.)
More about Mike Cooper
We interviewed Mike here in Photofocus earlier. His book “Abandoned Texas: Under a Lone Star Moon” is available at numerous retailers, including Amazon. Catch up with Mike on Instagram.
I got my autographed copy! It’s a fantastic book if you have any interest in long exposure / light painting / night photography. Mike is a gifted photographer of the nocturne! Well done, Mike!
Weird, I responded to this a long time ago. Anyway, it’s a fantastic book. Both the ones Mike has published are.
I found the article about the new book on forgotten locations in Texas to be fascinating. The photos are stunning, and I appreciate the author’s efforts to bring attention to these overlooked places. It’s refreshing to see a focus on the less traveled areas of Texas, and I’m excited to add this book to my reading list. Overall, a great piece that highlights the beauty and diversity of the Lone Star State.
So glad you like it. Both his books are fantastic.