The Story Behind the Print
The Ballyhoo Tavern stands as a definitive cornerstone piece in my portfolio, marking the very first photograph I ever exposed using my ultra-large-format 8x20 wooden panoramic view camera. Discovered in Terre Haute, Indiana, this historic brick building facade functions less like a standard storefront and more like a monumental, flat canvas for mid-century American advertising. The masonry carries a rich layer of weathered, hand-painted signage, from the bold, stylized block lettering of the tavern's name to the nostalgic "things go better with Coke" slogan and a towering illustration of the classic contoured glass bottle. It captures a vibrant, enduring visual crossroads where small-town social life meets the bold graphic character of vintage corporate design.
The creation of this print involved a unique, highly deliberate blend of traditional photographic craftsmanship and digital artistry. I originally captured the scene on a single, expansive sheet of traditional black and white film to lock in the intense structural clarity of the brick mortar and the weathered painted text. Later, I hand-colored the file inside Photoshop, applying a carefully considered palette of faded blues, rich reds, and aged yellows. This interpretive colorization process strips away the sterile reality of a standard black and white image, imbuing the frame with a warm, stylized patina that perfectly matches the retro spirit of the original mid-century commercial design.
The Panoramic Process
Because this image was exposed on an enormous 8x20 film negative, the final print possesses an extraordinary amount of physical presence and sharp micro-texture. The front-on framing lets the building's geometric elements speak for themselves, aligning the repeating pattern of the white upper shutters directly above the sprawling hand-painted murals. This sweeping, uninterrupted horizontal perspective gives the artwork an architectural weight that commands absolute attention when printed at a large scale. Made completely from a high-resolution drum scan of the original negative, it serves as an intimate visual record of disappearing roadside Americana, encouraging viewers to slow down and linger among the hand-painted details and everyday social histories woven directly into the masonry.