How Do You Photograph A City’s Bankruptcy?

Photographer Kirk Crippens says you can’t. But that hasn’t stopped him from trying. Since 2009, he has been documenting the city of Stockton, Calif., which last year became the largest city in American history to file for bankruptcy — until Detroit filed yesterday. Before bankruptcy, Stockton was the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis. But before that, Crippens says, it “was an all-American city — Boomtown, USA — housing going up everywhere.”