PowerPoint Presentations:

Take this opportunity to provide your group with a visual event they’ll never forget. Have acclaimed Hoosier photographer John Bower lead you on an amazing trip of discovery across Indiana. Together, you’ll explore the forlorn beauty of our vanishing cultural past—and along the way you’ll hear captivating stories of bygone events, places, and people. John has 8 different, masterful PowerPoint presentations that are perfect for libraries, art museums, historical societies, schools, community associations, senior-living centers, and more.

You’ll be pleased that you scheduled one of John Bower’s PowerPoint presentations, for each is unique, lively, professional, informative, and entertaining. Everyone, no matter their age, gender, income, or locale, will appreciate the breathtaking photography, and delight in seeing so many unexpected treasures. Bower has captured forgotten buildings, objects, and places—ephemeral treasures from an earlier time—that are rapidly disappearing due to neglect, vandalism, or demolition. In short, each sepia-toned slide brings to life underappreciated, yet fascinating, facets of those Hoosiers who came before us. It’s no wonder that spontaneous audience participation is common

To find the subject matter he feels so compelled to photograph, John Bower, along with his artist wife Lynn, has traveled 90,000 miles in recent years—to every city and town on the Indiana highway map (2,099 localities in all). His work has been displayed in museums and galleries throughout the state—and in 7 published books.

Each of John Bower’s PowerPoint programs lasts approximately 50 minutes, with plenty of time for questions and answers—and a book sale and signing—afterward. Best of all, the cost of having such a memorable presentation at your venue is very reasonable. For more details, please email John at john@studioindiana.com, or phone toll free at 877-547-5073.

Capturing the Soul of Indiana—A celebration of our overlooked cultural heritage

In this presentation, Hoosier photographer John Bower will take you on a visual journey of exploration to remnants of Indiana's rapidly disappearing past. In images from all 7 of his photography books (captured while traveling tens-of-thousands of miles), you’ll gaze upon forlorn houses, farms, towns, and vehicles. In country cemeteries, you’ll marvel at majestic, but forgotten, hand-carved angels, children, and soldiers. Entering inaccessible attics and unexpected spaces, you’ll discover rarely viewed treasures. You’ll marvel at towering grain elevators and feed mills that were once the life-blood of their communities. Inside closed-up businesses and stores you’ll delight in seeing long-deserted places that are now virtual time capsules. And, all long the way, John will share captivating stories behind each haunting photograph.

The Common Good—An Indiana heritage built with taxes, tithes, and tuition

The remnants of derelict buildings built for the benefit of society are captured forever in Hoosier photographer John Bower’s most recent book The Common Good, and this presentation based on it . Come along on a very special trip across Indiana to visit lonely, one-room, country schoolhouses and abandoned, pre-consolidation, high schools. Enter forlorn, tiny, rustic chapels, and wonder at the magnificent sanctuaries of once-mighty city churches, as well as a synagogue, now closed and left behind. Explore a century-old county home, a mental asylum, a veteran’s hospital, and an ammunition factory. This is a special look back at what our forebears built for the betterment of us all.

Journey's End—Relics and ruins of Indiana's transportation legacy

Hoosier photographer John Bower showcases his sixth book, Journey's End, in this exciting visual presentation. You’ll be his traveling companion, as he crisscrosses Indiana on a quest to find idle steam locomotives, retired diesel engines, and cabooses. Together, you’ll gaze on an overgrown field of rusting Hudson automobiles, you’ll enter the interiors of long-defunct service stations preserved as time capsules, and you’ll be awed by a colossal, crumbling Studebaker factory. You’ll be delighted in the unexpected sights of old Ohio River tow boats, railroad roundhouses, canals, iron bridges, trestles, and tunnels—even the last ferry operating on the Wabash River. There’s so much of Indiana’s intriguing transportation heritage to experience!

Silent Workplace—Shops, stores, businesses, and factories where Hoosiers once earned a living

In this compelling presentation (which covers Hoosier photographer John Bower’s book, Silent Workplace), you’ll travel across Indiana bearing witness to now-abandoned commercial enterprises where our parents and grandparents used to work. On this journey, you’ll pay homage to once-bustling, but now-empty, general stores and small-town shops. You’ll admire the dignity of derelict manufacturing plants that once made furniture, bricks, insulation, and more. You’ll find yourself moved by forlorn, though proud, portraits of a leather tannery, limestone mills, and even an undertaker's shop—that were locked up and walked away from. And, you’ll feel the poignant loss of once-prosperous theaters, banks, root-beer stands, and barber shops. Some of these businesses were closed just a few years ago, while others have been silent for decades. This presentation showcases a dynamic and economic legacy that is rapidly disappearing.

After the Harvest—Indiana's historic grain elevators and feed mills

This exciting presentation explores a once-vital aspect of Indiana’s cultural, agricultural, and economic past that few people know very much about. Join Hoosier photographer John Bower as he shares images from his book, After the Harvest, of aging, once-thriving grain elevators and feed mills—many of which are now defunct. Learn how these businesses—so central to small-town life—function, and why they are rapidly disappearing. Along the way, you’ll witness soaring concrete structures crumbling away, and dramatically collapsing wooden towers. You’ll learn about the equipment inside, including what a “man lift” is. You’ll also visit quaint 19th-century grist mills powered by water wheels. Plus, you’ll enter picturesque feed mills that have managed to remain open, despite overwhelming economic pressures. This is a must-see event for anyone interested in increasing their awareness of an underappreciated and little-understood facet of our Hoosier heritage.

2nd Stories—A Hoosier photographer explores what's upstairs, on top, and overhead

Come see Indiana as never before—by looking-up—with Hoosier photographer John Bower. Using images from his third photography book, 2nd Stories, Bower shares the unexpected wonders awaiting those who raise their eyes upward. When you do so with him, you’ll discover otherwise unseen architectural details, beautifully carved in limestone or marble, on the facades of aged buildings. You’ll also climb impressive hand-crafted stairways that reach to higher levels. And, perhaps most exciting of all, you’ll enter hidden attic spaces that are usually off-limits, and explore what few people will ever see. You’ll visit the storeroom under the rafters of a 19th-century museum, the attic of an 1867 childrens’ home, the inside of a courthouse dome—and much, much more. In short, this is a fun opportunity to view our cultural history from an uniquely elevated perspective

Guardians of the Soul—Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture

In this beautifully unforgettable presentation, with images from his Guardians of the Soul book, Hoosier photographer John Bower introduces you to Indiana’s spectacular, but little known, cemetery statuary. According to the Association for Graveyard Studies, his “stunning” photos “capture the sensitivity of the original artists who chiseled and sculpted these exquisite statues so many years ago.” Come along, as John takes you through Victorian-Era garden cemeteries, to gaze in wonder at marble, limestone, and granite angels, children, soldiers, saints, and more—even horses, lions, and dogs! Listen to the compelling stories about the loved ones these emotionally moving works of art were erected to honor. Collectively, this weathering outdoor sculpture is a significant, yet underappreciated, aspect of our Hoosier history—one you’ll be pleased to see and learn about.

Lingering Spirit—A tribute to Indiana's fading, forlorn, and forgotten places

Armed with 10 county maps, Hoosier photographer John Bower, and his artist wife Lynn, drove up and down nearly every road on them, looking for “fading, forlorn, and forgotten places.” In covering 15,000 miles, with no preconceived idea of what they would find—just the expectation of discovery—they were rewarded by amazing, yet unsung, cultural treasures. As you will see in this fascinating presentation, their serendipitous finds included abandoned homesteads (with clothes still hanging in the closets), derelict shops, collapsing barns, overgrown country cemeteries, and the remains of rusting vehicles. They also found long-empty schools, churches, and small towns on the verge of disappearing forever. All these derelict buildings and objects had outlived their usefulness, yet each was photographed by Bower with deep respect. The hauntingly beautiful images that resulted are showcased in his first book—Lingering Spirit—and in this moving presentation.