Tom Raymondson photography

Phantom Businesses

A couple of hours north of San Francisco, Ukiah is a city of about 15,000 that is still looking for a replacement for the timber-based economy that was decimated decades ago by overcutting. Wine? Tourism? Cannabis? In the meantime, businesses come and go (as of 2018, it seems, mostly go). I decided to photograph these “Phantom Businesses” for a project in the Introduction to Photography class at Mendocino College, taught by Tomiko Jones. In addition to signage left by closed businesses, I included address numbers and other assorted decals, signs with the letters removed, and two examples of what I call “phantom phantoms” (an obliterated sign and a removed sign revealing a different color of paint underneath). The saddest sign is “Joseph’s”, an intricate floor tile design that is still intact but now covered in filth. My favorite has to be “The Toggery”, at the top of an old brick advertising wall that I have photographed numerous times. I decided to present the photos with saturated color as a reminder that each of these businesses started with hope and enthusiasm. The “No Lament Award” is presented to Bank of America and the “Irony Award” goes to the smoke shop that burned down. All photos were shot with a Fuji X100F on a tripod, ISO 200, aperture priority with f11 or f16 to provide depth of field, then tweaked in Lightroom.