Stuck Between Stations on Flickr.

Holga BC135 | Kodak Plus-x | XTOL (1:1) | post-processed in Topaz Adjust

“The devil and John Berryman, they took a walk together and they ended up on Washington talking to the river | He said I surrounded myself with doctors and deep thinkers | But big heads and soft bodies make for lousy lovers | There was that night that we thought that John Berryman could fly | But he didn’t so he died”

The Hold Steady’s “Stuck Between Stations” accurately names the Washington Avenue Bridge as the suicide location of the poet John Berryman, who jumped to his death from atop on January 7, 1972. It’s a famous landmark, not so much because of suicides, but because it connects the east and west sides of the University of Minnesota together. During the day, it’s filled with throngs of students on all forms of transportation. Luckily, for the winter months, it has a covered part that provides shelter from the Minnesota cold.

This is a panorama shot in-camera on film using a 35mm Holga. Holgas are great because you can use the shutter at all times, it’s not coupled to the film winder. To create these imperfect (but that’s the appeal) images, you take a shot, wind about halfway, take another shot, wind halfway again, and take your final shot. You have to guess where each frame lands in relation to the previous one. It takes some trial and error, but I think you end up with some special images.