Short Film Reveals The Darker Side Of North Dakota's Oil Boom

Photographer Alec Soth recently traveled to the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to shoot a cover story for the New York Times magazine.

Now he and director Isaac Gale have published a short video documentary, "Sweet Crude Man Camp," depicting some of the less sunny aspects of living and working in the middle of an oil boom.

In striking black and white, they track the lives of roughnecks as they eke out a living on North Dakota's seemingly endless plains, struggling with the responsibilities of family — or, in some cases, the mental strains of lonelineess.

Check it out:

Sweet Crude Man Camp from Little Brown Mushroom on Vimeo.