Susan Tatterson is Professor of Digital Media at Central Arizona College. She began photographing America’s abandoned landscape in 2008 as part of her MFA thesis at the University of Baltimore. Her photographs have been exhibited at solo and group shows in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Arizona, as well as being featured in Baltimore Magazine, and the indie film The Curio Shop. Her website, Spirits of the Abandoned, features work from more than seventy abandoned locations across the U.S. Her work has been described by local historians as “heartbreakingly beautiful” and “simply gorgeous.” Originally from Australia, Sue moved to the United States in 2001.
California is one of several states that make up the Wild West in the United States. It was first established as a U.S. a territory in 1848. The state that...