Foreclosure Homes And What Homeowners Leave Behind

Foreclosure Homes And What Homeowners Leave Behind

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University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism student, 27-year-old Rhyen Coombs documented foreclosure homes and what homeowners leave behind after they abandoned their properties.

Her documentary project is composed of eight colorful images that provided a glimpse of what is inside foreclosure homes in Vallejo. The haunting images showed remnants of the lives of former owners of foreclosure homes. There were boxes of old letters, calendars posted on walls, personal documents, unmade beds, clothings and wire hangers.

Coombs noted that distressed homeowners would leave behind mostly personal items and trash. Some of these personal items were not the type of things that would be left behind if the owners were in their right frame of mind.

She explained that she did the photo documentary because she wanted to find out why homeowners choose to leave in their foreclosure homes items they once valued.

She claimed that she finished her documentary without knowing why distressed homeowners leave behind personal items in their foreclosure homes.

However, she felt justified because her images showed remnants of lives shattered by the foreclosure crisis.

She viewed her project as very challenging because she had to maintain her journalistic integrity and at the same time her sensitiveness to the subject.

California is one of the top five states in the country with the highest number of foreclosure homes. Figures from DataQuick showed that the number of distressed properties in California increased to 327 percent or 47,000 homes in 2008 from the same period in 2007.

According to Karen Holtermann, a member of the selection committee, Coombs photographs featured captivating use of shadow and light. She added that Coombs project provided viewers with a profound understanding of what distraught homeowners went through when they were forced to leave their properties due to foreclosure.

Aside from photographs, Coombs also recorded the sounds produced by cleanup workers as they collected and disposed of items from repossessed homes.

She pointed out that there was only a short gap from the moment the homeowner left to the arrival of the cleanup crews.

Coombs photographs of foreclosure properties merited her the 2009 Dorothea Lange Fellowship award and $4,000 cash prize. The award was bestowed in honor of Dorothea Lange, a photojournalist who recorded in detail the Great Depression.

About the Author:
Joseph Smith has been educating buyers on the finer points of distressed properties purchase at BankForeclosuresSale.com for over four years. Click here to visit and read more advice on finding foreclosure homes.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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