Photographer who specializes in Midwest architecture visits south central Indiana

A photographer, Josh Lipnik, who specializes in Midwest architecture, visited Bloomington this month. 

He runs the Twitter account Midwest Modern, which was originally intended for others interested in architecture and history.

But his base grew, as he started taking roadtrips during the pandemic for photography. Started in 2019, the account now has more than 100,000 followers.

During his Bloomington stay, he visited campus staples, including the Eskenazi Museum of Art, designed by I.M. Pei, and the Musical Art Center, designed by Evans Woolen.

He said IU’s landscaping makes a difference in how the structures are presented, that sets it apart from other campuses.

"It really feels like you're sort of organically in the woods, like in this little like valley of woods," Lipnik said. "A lot of campuses try to recreate that. But I think (IU) did a really nice job of taking advantage of what was already there and integrating the campus into that."

Similar to other college towns, he found a wealth of mid-century modern homes. Some of Bloomington’s were designed by Elaine Doenges, a self-taught woman architect in the 1950s.

"When people are walking around some of the neighborhoods and notice some of those mid century modern houses, maybe they'll know the story behind that and that there's some type of history there." 

Read more: Elaine Doenges' Mid-Century Modern Legacy

He hopes his work encourages people to take a second look at where they live. 

“I hope that I can just get people to maybe look around and pay more attention to the architecture and the built environment around them.”

While in southern central Indiana, Lipnik also visited Columbus, Indiana to take images of structures and buildings.