St. Madeleine Church, Trona. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
The stark architecture of St. Madeleine Sophie Barat Catholic Church, Trona, California.
I have a bit of history with the California town of Trona, but it has mostly been superficial. I may need to consider changing that. The town is in the far reaches of San Bernardino County, in the desert region between Ridgecrest, California and Death Valley National Park. The entire reason I even know of the place is that it is on the route that I almost always follow into the park. The town has roots that go back to the 1800s, and it seems to be supported almost entirely by the mining/extraction operations that go on there. To this outside, Trona has that utilitarian, dusty, sad, potential ghost town look of so many remote Western towns. I’m sure that some of that impression is the result of my own ignorance, but still…
I’ve passed through Trona annually for about two decades. However I rarely stop, mostly because Trona is either the last step on a very long drive to Death Valley (and I just want to get to DEVA and get to work without delay) or the first step on the long drive home (and I feel little need to stop yet). There isn’t much there for travelers — a drive-in, a restaurant on a side street, a market, a gas station or two. However, with each visit the feeling grows that there is something worth looking at and photographing here, especially in an increasingly urbanized age where fewer people have any experience with such places. So this time, on the way out of the park, we paused briefly and drove around just a bit. I noticed things that I have missed before. (For example, not all of the homes here are abandoned or unloved.) Our final stop before moving on was the parking area next to the St. Madeleine Church. In fact, this was one of the features that first suggested photography here to me some years ago, even though I had not previously stopped. It is a remarkable building, and its brutalist concrete construction and unadorned square shape somehow seem appropriate in this stark desert landscape.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.