The following article was written by Lisa Pellegrene, and was originally published by Patch.com on September 10, 2020, then later republished on News Break.

Each week, spanning the last decade, Thomas W.P. Slatin provides insight on photographs deemed to be his favorite and most interesting.

Continuing the weekly “year in review” of renowned photographer Thomas Slatin’s work, looking back on 2012, it is a year of beautiful landscape photographs, as well as some interesting and unique urban exploration photography. When asked about his favorite photo shoot from the year, Slatin did not hesitate to respond, he recalls photographs of a house in Stamford, New York, on the corner of Academy and Main Street. Slatin states, “The house itself is historic, and it is one of the very first houses to be built in the Village of Stamford.” Continuing, “I had obtained permission to photograph the interior, as long as I did not disturb anything. At the time, the house was missing most of the ground-level windows and doors Inside, I found a series of rooms, the majority of which were stacked high with the previous occupants’ possessions. The house itself was a mess in many ways, yet the lighting was outstanding.”

Slatin’s photographs of the house on Academy and Main, has resulted in its restoration, by way of generous donations and volunteer work. Slatin’s photographs of the house prior to its restoration may be found at the following link, www.tomslatin.com/old-house-at-the-corner-of-academy-and-main/.

Slatin finds his best photograph of this particular year to be a close up photograph of a white flower in his mom’s backyard, which may be found here, www.tomslatin.com/in-bloom, as photographed by Slatin. Thomas Slatin recalled experimenting with new editing software during the time; however, this particular photo was so stunning that it did not require any editing whatsoever, stating, “I was very pleased with how it came out.”

Thomas Slatin’s favorite landscape photographs of the year resulted from his photograph of a bridge located in White Mountain National Forest, www.tomslatin.com/the-bridge-white-mountains-national-forest-2012/. White Mountain National Forest is located in Campton, New Hampshire. Slatin’s “second favorite” landscape photograph of the year, is a photograph which he entitled, “Tall Pine Trees.” This photograph was also taken in New Hampshire in North Conway, www.tomslatin.com/tall-pine-trees-north-conway-new-hampshire-2012/.

Slatin’s dad, the late Dr. Harvey L. Slatin, an American physicist and inventor, was a person who helped to plant the seed in Thomas, regarding a true love for exploring properties and landscapes, with a camera in hand. Slatin’s dad enjoyed taking photographs, according to Slatin, and he also gave Thomas his first camera, and many more thereafter.

“I would get his “hand me downs,” which were pretty great, beginning at the age of eight. I was delighted each and every time that I received a new camera from my dad.” More than anything, Slatin’s father, not only sparked an interest in Thomas for photography, he led Thomas to what became his lifelong passion, leading to a purposeful, worthwhile and rewarding career.

Thomas Slatin states, “I learned a lot about patience and time management in 2012, as I loved taking photographs, and also at the time, I had a full career as a firefighter, of which my father was quite proud. Very importantly, I wanted to spend as much time with my father as possible, unfortunately his health began to decline this year.”

Thomas elaborated regarding his most interesting photo shoot of the year. It was during a fire training session. Slatin recalled, ” One night at 7 PM, I was training new firefighters, and we were using an abandoned house that was slated for demolition. Prior to the training exercise, the recruits were tasked with gathering up all the things which were left behind when the house was abandoned, leaving only furniture behind. Right before we started cutting holes in the walls and dragging fire hoses through the house, I photographed all the old bedrooms in this tiny house.”

Continuing, “It is unusual to find an abandoned location with everything left behind. I had the legal authority to access it and photograph it. After I was done photographing the interior, through leading other firefighters in training, it was our job to set up smoke grenades, safely simulating a fire inside.” Concluding, “I stepped outside to watch as the new fire department recruits began to practice cutting holes in the walls and roof. Shortly thereafter, the building itself was leveled and hauled away.”

Slatin, through his photographs, was able to document and preserve the property before it no longer existed, which may be found on his blog, at www.tomslatin.com/tiny-house-with-old-furniture/.

Slatin regularly has a pre-production process, which includes identifying properties to photograph. He then goes through the official process of planning the photo shoot, to include garnering official permission to legally access and photograph a property.

2012 was not a year where he was investing a lot of time into the pre-production process, relating to property identification and planning. Working at the time with the fire department, he had a full time career. Slatin’s main priority of this year, in addition to his work as a firefighter, was to be there for his father. So in 2012 as he often traveled to distant places, Slatin had his camera in tow, to see what interesting property or landscape he would stumble upon to photograph. “I took photographs of what I found to be interesting along the way,” states Slatin. This resulted in beautiful photographs in the referenced year in terms of his landscape photography and interesting photographs relating to his work as an urban exploration/adventure photographer.

Thomas Slatin’s photography work from 2012 was photographed with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital camera.

All of his work, to include his many individual blog entries that represent his work as both an accomplished writer and photographer may be found on www.tomslatin.com/.

Check back next Thursday for more insightful reviews and photographs by Thomas W.P. Slatin.

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