Every Place in North Dakota Captured in 9,308 Photographs
In a series of 9,308 photographs Andrew Filer documented every place in North Dakota. Literally
![20121016082016north-dakota-1.jpg](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/lPR_Sl-Kwd5Zd5mYK8FzeM_qlqs=/1000x750/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121016082016north-dakota-1.jpg)
How many dots are there on a map of your state? Well, in North Dakota there are about 850. Andrew Filer knows, because he went to all of them. In a series of 9,308 photographs Filer documented every place in North Dakota. Literally.
![Every Place in North Dakota Captured in 9,308 Photographs](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/rPwxCU0HHG7twqoLUXwzl_CwcaM=/fit-in/1072x0/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/f2/9f/f29fb71e-4303-484d-b6a6-675afcad87dc/north-dakota-2.jpg)
You can see every single one of these images on Flickr. Or you can read more about the project and see photographs by place, on Metafilter. There, Filer explains:
I worked on and off over the past decade or so on this, but I would say that about 50% of the photography was done in 4 multi-week-long trips in 2008 and 2009. I was at the mercy of the weather, so I’d photograph for as long as it stayed sunny.
What’s next? Filer started a Kickstarter to fund his photography of small places around the country. On his project site, he writes:
I love small places, out-of-the-way places, desolate places, middles of nowheres, ghost towns, and other places that have a name but not much else. I’ve photographed every dot on the North Dakota map, and now I’m planning a new trip through the western US (and possibly Canada) photographing the tiniest places I can find.
More from Smithsonian.com:
Edward Curtis: Photographing the North American Indian
Photographer John Gossage Reflects on “The Pond”