Saundra did a shoot at a bar in Wisconsin, a little different from the rest. I'll let her tell the story! :
“Focus on Wisconsin”
Wisconsin- what does that locale mean to me? That was my largest question when I was given that state for this project. Home grown in Indiana and now a resident of Chicago, I only had a few memories of brief vacations to the water parks there and even fewer memories of recent visits to that state for planned activities with new friends.
I delved as deeply as possible into my Wisconsin memories as a child, finding the pool of thought shallow. I remembered always hearing “You only have to be eighteen to go in the bars there!” To a teenager, that was monumental! Of course, their glaring obsession with cheese resonated as well. Growing up, we Hoosiers were reminded of their “cheesiness” on a constant basis; they would sport foam cheesehead hats during every opportunity, primarily football games. The question was, what did Wisconsin mean to me today?
I found that my focus on Wisconsin would be a combination of my memories past and the new memories I wanted to create. I asked one of my recently acquired friends, Angela, who lives in Wisconsin if she had any ideas. She was quick to tell me of a bar near her that certainly piqued my interest, a bar so buried in the past and off the beaten track, that it has almost no presence on the web in today's trendy media culture. It had all the makings of a good subject, and most of all, sounded like the type of place I wanted to visit.
The type of place that sounded best to me was one where I could go and hide for a few hours. I wanted a place where Wisconsin locals went to forget about the troubles of life for the night, where the bartender smoked out of the side of his mouth while serving up drinks, and where the pool table was never empty. I found that place alright.
Thirty miles south of Milwaukee in Kenosha, Wisconsin lies The Port of Kenosha Beverage House. It is exactly as it sounds- a house that serves up beverages. It also serves up a wide variety of music each night and a crowd as diverse as the items that decorate the walls and ceilings.
The story goes that the owner, Johnny Mod, converted his house into a bar back in the 1980's after having too many house calls by the police on his “parties.” He acquired a beverage license and converted this Victorian-style house into a bar that would house a diverse clientele night after night.
Modeling simple jeans and a t-shirt, I felt comfortable there, but I may have even then been overdressed. I was no match for the Wisconsin drinks. They are certainly half of what I pay here in Chicago and, strikingly, more than twice the amount of hootch, catching me unaware and making me feel overly confident at being able to win at any of their multiple bar games. (I did get the winning shot at pool and a bull's eye on the dartboard, if I do remember correctly, which I may not at all.)
I took it all in- the overly smoky air, the Packer's sweatshirt seen here or there, and the graffiti of quotes in the bathroom where the mirror used to be. I searched for subjects through the haze. Every single thing there was “perfect” for my one shot. Yes, only one shot though. I finally settled on shooting near the pool table. I couldn't blast the environment with the abuse of this flash, and the light was best under the glow of the overhead lamps lighting the green felt. I looked around the room, thinking out loud, saying I didn't have any model releases, who should I shoot, et cetera. Angela looked at me and said, “How about you? I'll shoot you!” I said uncertainly, “Okay.”
I may not be from Wisconsin, but this was the place that I chose to escape to, to hide away in for a night. I told her where to stand, I posed, and the shot was captured.
- Saundra Karol
The Port of Kenosha Beverage House
714 50th St
Kenosha, WI,53140
