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http://www.wired.com/2014/07/underground-railroad/    

Haunting Underground Railroad Images Retrace the Steps of Fleeing Slaves

During the 19th century, tens of thousands of people risked their lives surreptitiously traveling thousands of miles from the bondage of slavery to the freedom of the North. Few photos of this Underground Railroad exist, which is why Jeanine Michna-Bales has spent months following some of the known routes north, photographing the homes, forests and caves where those escaping slavery sought shelter.

“I chose the project because I think it’s important for our country to understand our past and where we’ve come from,” says Michna-Bales, who is 42 and lives in Dallas.

Michna-Bales has long been fascinated by the Underground Railroad. She grew up in Indiana, one of the first free states slaves reached on their way north, and studied the Railroad in school. She made frequent field trips to Underground Railroad sites, and was fascinated by the suggestion that slaves used patterns sewn into quilts to disseminate escape routes.

There are many routes slaves followed as they fled to freedom, but no definitive trail you can travel today. With no clear map, Michna-Bales did her best to re-trace portions of known routes that start in Louisiana and then meander north along the Natchez Trace. It’s also hard to know where people stopped each day as they moved north, so Michna-Bales pored through historical documents and talked to locals. Some of the sites she’s photographed are registered historical sites, while others are known only through word of mouth.

The entire route is about 2,000 miles long and took about three months on foot, moving only at night. It’s said those following the Railroad covered about 20 miles a night, so Michna-Bales also chose to do the same. Making pictures often was a challenge, given that she often worked in the dead of night, miles from the nearest town and any source of light. When possible, she relies upon the light of the moon, but she’s also been light painting if there’s no other way to make a picture.

“If there’s nothing for the camera to pick up, I had to do something so people can get a sense for what the area looks like,” she says.

Given that she often works in remote areas, Michna-Bales never travels alone. Her family accompanies her when she’s in Indiana; the rest of the time, she hires off-duty police officers. “The police officers have said I’m are probably fine by myself, but you never know,” she says.

Michna-Bales’ photos are beautiful and haunting. The landscapes are picturesque, but the dark tone in her work reminds you that those following the Underground Railroad risked their very lives for freedom. The only photograph of a daylight scene was made in Canada. It shows the sun breaking through the clouds, a fitting close to a series Michna-Bales hopes to see published in a book.

“The reason I shot the sun coming up,” she says, “is because once they reached Canada that would be the first time the could actually move freely during the day.”