The Last Town Over is my ongoing exploration of Iowa’s incorporated towns with populations of 500 or fewer — places often dismissed as “flyover” or forgotten. These communities, scattered across the Midwest’s quiet backroads, hold stories that rarely make headlines but speak volumes about resilience, identity, and belonging.

I am drawn to the overlooked details: the faded storefronts, weathered signs, empty ball fields, and the people who remain — not because they have to, but because this place is woven into who they are. Through this work, I aim to reveal the beauty and complexity of these towns as they are, not as nostalgia imagines them or progress forgets them.

This series is as much about observation as it is about preservation — a visual record of small-town life in a changing landscape. It’s a testament to the quiet endurance of these places and the stories they hold, reminding us that significance isn’t measured by size, and that meaning lives even on the edges of the map.