Two Cache Valley high school juniors have received national recognition from The New York Times for photos taken at an abandoned, graffiti-covered structure near the mouth of Logan Canyon.
Last fall, Evaan Winger and his childhood friend, Connor Smith, were exploring a deserted structure locals call the “Concrete Jungle.”
“We like to go to cool abandoned buildings or hiking trails," Winger said, "just mostly outdoor places, honestly, and we like to take pictures.”
Like many local teens, the pair has been visiting the old water diversion structure for years.
“We didn't have any plans for these pictures," Winger said. "We just wanted to sort of document it. I took a few of him, he took a few of me.”
It was Winger who came across the “Local Lens” photo essay contest, but he considered himself more of a writer. That’s why he enlisted the help of his friend.
“I just take a picture of whatever I think is unique or beautiful, or just looks appealing,” said Smith, the photographer.
So at his friend's request, Smith picked a few photos, emailed them over, and didn’t think much of it — at least until the pair learned they had been named by the New York Times as one of eight runners-up. Their entry was selected from over 1,400 submissions from around the world.
“It turns out it was a huge, big deal," Smith said. "So it's kind of crazy.”
While Smith said he had been focused on capturing the symmetry of the space, Winger’s writing helped turn those colorful, light-filled scenes into a story.
“You can see the walls and the bricks of this building being sort of eaten up by nature itself," he said. "I saw swastikas painted on the walls. I saw hateful images and cuss words. But at the same time, I saw people working to cover up those images — to cover up that hate. I saw things that held meaning.”
Smith said he thinks it was the colors that made his submission stand out.
“Beyond the graffiti and the way the pictures were taken, I really think that caught the attention," he said, "how the colors mixed together.”
But Winger said it may have been the shared need for preservation that extends beyond borders.
“I believe it's a very human thing to want to leave your mark on some place,” he said.
Winger titled the photo essay “Stories That Grow in the Absence of People.”
“Before very long,” he wrote, “the structure once thought to be dead is revived. Not exactly with life, but with stories that course through its walls like blood through veins.”
He emphasized that the project had been a collaboration with all those who had visited before him.
“Those pictures of the concrete jungle," Winger said, "would have not been anything like they are without the people of Logan going up to it themselves, putting their own pieces of art — of graffiti — on the walls.”
