About The Fresh Coast Project
The Fresh Coast Project is the endeavor to capture the Great Lakes on film prior to the cessation of film as a photographic medium. But why is this important? Why has this project driven one photographer to do so now, before the chance is gone?
With decades behind the lens and working with film, professional photographer Ed Wargin has dedicated his craft and career to discovering the Great Lakes, one frame at a time.
From Ed: "I grew up in the Great Lakes, I've always felt the connection to it. Long ago, it became my goal to capture the grandeur of the entire Fresh Coast as an artistic, archival, and historical project. My initial aim was to retain its pristine image for future generations to enjoy, in the hope that it encourages forthcoming populations to care for, celebrate, and preserve this great resource. But along the way, the project became much more than this. There are historical repercussions to the loss of film. A piece of film is tangible, and provides an indisputable reference. A digital file is not quite tangible in that sense. You cannot touch or feel it, and therefore, from an historical reference point of view, you cannot guarantee that it has been untouched, unaltered. Think about all historical documentation going forward once film is gone - and how much we need tangible mediums to serve as reference points. In addition, consider the many environmental factors placed on our Great Lakes. My goal is also to create a body of work that will serve future generations of leaders, teachers, artists, legislators, citizens and stewards by allowing them to use these images of the Fresh Coast Project as a way to judge how the shores have changed, the impact we are making whether for good or bad, many years from now."
And there is one more important aspect of this project. For most people, hearing the word "Yosemite" conjures an image of a region and a favorable connection to it - whether we have physically visited there, or not. Ansel Adams, through his collection of imagery, brought this unique eco-region to the forefront of our visual minds; much as John Audobon brought us birds; Edward S. Curtis created what is now esteemed as the most important historical record of native peoples. We feel we know about such things not only because we've read about them, but because our visual landscape has created a deeper connection in our mind's eye. Photographer Dorothea Lange brought us the faces of homeless women who struggled during the Great Depression. When we think of that era in time and the struggle it presented, many of us who were not there feel as if we relate to it intimately - because those images were created and placed in our visual subconscious.
In a small way, it is also the goal of the Fresh Coast Project to create a sense of unity throughout the states and Canada so that as minds reflect upon this area and its landscape, people, traditions, and culture, they will have a strong visual sense of the Great Lakes region, connecting it further into their personal visual subconscious.
About the Great Lakes.
The breadth and size of the Fresh Coast consists of over 10,000 miles of shoreline running along the shores of Ontario, Canada; and the American states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.
Why Film?
There is a certain truth with shooting a piece of film. Capturing an image on film results in a concrete medium- something tangible for the artist and viewer, such as a painting on a canvas exists for a painter.
Why Now?
Due to the baseline measure that film offers by giving us an actual piece of tangible and indisputable evidence, it became imperative to capture the entire Fresh Coast on film prior to the dissolution of transparency film as a medium, which will most likely occur within the next few years, according to industry reports. In this manner, the film archive being created through The Fresh Coast Project will live on for generations, allowing a benchmark measure for a place and time in our Great Lakes history. To learn more, watch the Fresh Coast Project short video "Until The Last Frame".
On behalf of The Fresh Coast Project, Ed Wargin will take simultaneous images via digital equipment, in the event that production of film should cease midstream through the endeavor. However, each film image captured will serve as the raw, indisputable benchmark photograph that assembles The Fresh Coast Project.
A Specific Goal
In short, the goal is to assemble a body of artistic photographic work on film and digital mediums of the Great Lakes natural and manmade landscapes resulting in a collection of artistic work that will be used in many ways to facilitate knowledge and awareness of our Great Lakes region.
At Last...
"So with film camera in hand and an eye on the lakes I continue with this journey, this professional quest, wrestling many unknowns as I go forward. But one thing that is known for certain, each picture made is one more that will serve the collection, and it is my hope to honor this great freshwater landscape by completing the project before film becomes a notion of the past. I hope you will join me in this attempt to capture our Great Lakes on both the American and Canadian shores in The Fresh Coast Project." Ed Wargin
