Abandoned in the Heartland
It is always fun to come across photographic gems in the countryside. Tonight as I was making my way to a meeting in Carroll I came across this old car not far off of a county road. I pulled over jumped out and started taking photos of the car while trying to work the brilliant sky into the picture.
An abandoned car rests on the open prairie ground of northwest Iowa.
Within five minutes of starting to take photos a car pulled up with an older lady and her son. I stepped over to the car and told them good evening. They were inquisitive to what I was doing and I answered that I happened to see the car and I was taking photos. That's when the woman told me and son confirmed that they were the owners of the old car. They told me it was a 1941 Ford Super Deluxe that didn't work for years so they left it there to wither away on a hillside in western Iowa. They also told me that the car had a twin that was in mint condition in a neighboring town.
For more than two decades, Joseph L. Murphy has had the pleasure of meeting and connecting with people from all walks of life through photography. He has photographed presidents and heads of state, traversed the winding alleyways of the Fes Medina in Morocco, photographed the sprawling countryside and people that make up Argentina and covered events that have defined the U.S. Most recently, Murphy’s travels have taken him to Cambodia, Mexico, China, Vietnam and Ecuador.
He has spent the past 20 years specializing in agriculture photography for multiple organizations, publications and marketing projects.
A graduate of the University of Iowa, Murphy determined at an early age that his love of photography would shape his vision for life.