Places Lost

by Scott Walden

Between 1954 and 1975, the governments of Canada and Newfoundland implemented programs that led to the abandonment of hundreds of fishing communities along isolated sections of the Newfoundland coastline. Join author and photographer Scott Walden as he searches among the weathered remnants of these ghost towns for vestiges of these places lost. During the summer of 1998, Scott Walden visited the sites of Newfoundland coastal communities that were abandoned during government resettlement programs of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. Walden’s photographs, collectively called Unsettled, were taken with large- and medium-format cameras, rendering images rich in detail. They are reproduced here in duotone alongside Walden’s accounts—personal, philosophical and historical—of these places lost.

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 22, 2003

Reviews

[Xondra Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

[Ronald Kelland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for Christmas and, being from a family that hails from a resettled Newfoundland community, I was eagerly anticipating reading this book. The book is a combination of short photo essay, a treatise on the photographer’s artistic process and a travelogue of the author’s journey to the places he has documented and the people he met along the way. The author is not a Newfoundlander, and though this concerned me at first, by the end of the book I think that his outsider view of these former communities allowed him to look at them in a different way than a Newfoundlander might. His commentary is insightful and interesting. If I have one criticism it is that a bot more on the history of the featured outports would have been appreciated, but I understand that the photographer/author was not writing a history book, so I cannot hold that against the book. The book is a melancholic and very respectful look at former outport communities and the photos are gorgeous. I am glad to have this book in my personal library. I just wish I could have seen the photo exhibition that it as based on.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the resettlement communities in Nfld.

[Tonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the author/photographer's perspective. He remained objective and honoured history.