Alleys & Ruins no. 99, 4Give n 4Get (2007, Kansas City, MO, 9:45pm)

A short video of my West Bottoms photos is here
While trying to compose a different photograph - Alley no. 116, Silent Witness - in the dark stillness of Kansas City’s mostly abandoned West Bottoms, I spot movement out of the corner of my eye - an injured bird, maybe ten yards away. It’s lying on the edge of a dimly lit street, one wing fluttering weakly against the pavement. I stop to look at this sad scene. It’s quiet enough that I can hear the faint, rhythmic tapping of that wing against the asphalt. It seems to be the only part of the bird that can still move. It’s trapped in its final, helpless moments.
 
Before I turn away, something else catches my eye.
 
A silhouette, fifteen yards beyond the bird. It’s a small, still, feline. A cat. Its ears, head, and body are backlit and glowing ominously from a distant streetlight. It’s watching the bird, and probably us too. Its posture is firm, upright and very still and it becomes clear that its waiting, either for the bird to stop moving or for us to leave so it can finish the job.
 
I return to my camera, secure it on the tripod, and prepare my lights for the long exposure. The scene around me slips into the background, but not out of mind. As I begin the shot, I glance back: the bird is still feebly flapping, and the cat hasn't moved an inch. It might as well be carved from stone.
 
This macabre standoff plays out silently behind me as I work. For two hours, the bird clings to life, and the cat waits, silent, patient and inevitable.
 
When I finish, I pack up without looking back. I don’t want to know how the night ends in this forgotten little corner of the city.
 
                                                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
There are several Kansas Cities, which are mostly very beautiful and very friendly. There's the one in Missouri, the one in Kansas, and my favourite: the deserted runt, known as the West Bottoms. It is an enormous industrial area that time forgot.

Building a city around a valley where two major rivers meet was advantageous for ease of transportation, access to natural resources, and the promise of economic growth. But it presented a whole set of complex environmental complications. The low-lying area is prone to floods including the Great Flood of 1903, which ended plans for housing, schools and churches.

The next great flood came in 1951, leaving the remaining companies to wonder what the heck they were doing there. Many locations closed their doors forever.

Spread out at the bottom of KS, MO, it looks and feels like you've entered another time. This bus sat in an empty lot, waiting to be photographed.

Flood walls have been built and got their biggest test in 1993 when waters nearly breached the levees, but the West Bottoms was spared and the area is now very, very, very slowly rebuilding.

The area remains stunted but current redevelopment has begun to attract upscale and artistic tenants trying to help reestablish the West Bottoms area.