“Meet the Author,” at the Lake Mills Public Library

The Lake Mills Public Library is hosting a “Meet the Author” event, Friday, Dec. 20, at 4 p.m. Join author, Julie Bronson, on a nostalgic journey to the farmhouses, barns, and other outbuildings of yesteryear, with her book “Abandoned Northern Iowa.”
Each structure is unique in character and was carefully constructed to stand the test of time, until they’re abandoned. Julie shows us, through her sensitive photojournalism, the progression of their inevitable deterioration. Her photos demonstrate the beauty of structures we don’t normally notice, as we speed past them from 55 to 70 miles-per-hour. Whenever possible, she will take us inside the houses, barns, sheds, and sometimes silos to see what lies hidden in them. She investigates places others might miss and finds beautiful craftsmanship in all corners. She takes her time during these visits, in order to honor those who went before, by depicting the love and care that went into creating these long-forgotten homes. She patiently listens to the whispers of the wind making its way through the broken windows and doors, hoping to hear laughter or perhaps a voice from the past. Step back in time with Julie and join her on an adventure.
Julie Bronson is a self-taught photographer who loves ambling up and down seldom traveled gravel roads, looking for farms begging to have their photo taken. She can spot an abandoned house from miles away. Her fascination with the architecture of the past never grows old. The beauty of broken-down, tired, old, faded wood shows through in the photos she takes. Her photography has been shown in art galleries and other venues in Albert Lea, Owatonna, Austin, and Faribault, Minn., and in Clear Lake. She can always be found with a camera in hand recording details of the past to preserve for the future.