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Behind the Scenes of Roadside America Work
 As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, I admire Robert Frank’s masterful photographs and his approach to photography. I also really admire and respect his editing and sequencing skills. I'm always amazed when I think about his famous book, The Americans. It is the result of 27,000 photographs edited down to 1000 work prints and then further edited to 83 perfectly sequenced images in the book that flows like a poem.
I’ve been using this time to fine tune some of my editing and sequencing skills. While the Roadside America gallery on the website needs to be updated to reflect these new efforts, thought I would share some of the new work and editing/sequencing with you. Perhaps it will serve as a small diversion.
Several hundred Roadside America photographs went through a first edit to get the "working material" down to about 60+ images (see above). Working with those 60+ images, I then edited that down to a portfolio of 15 (see image below). The contact sheet of those 15 images is sequenced in a manner to be akin to road trip into and out of a town, as well as sequenced in a manner that holds the series together, visually. For example, the wheels are the beginning and end of the photos that are industrial in nature. You can click on the images to see a larger version.
Now I am working at taking the 15 images back up to about 40 images, which might form the basis of a book. Somedays I wake up and completely reorder the sequencing with another thought and different visual direction in mind. I took a (bad) snapshot of that work in progress -- which is just below the 15 image portfolio.
As background, here is an abbreviated version of the narrative related to Roadside America photo series:
"Manmade structures break down as communities evolve, often abandoned and neglected as interstates pass them by.
Over time, the evidence of past human endeavors melds with natural elements to create its’ own beauty – a mystical reminder that the past persists, even just as relics of time gone by.
These deteriorating places stand as evidence of the people who built communities on the strengths of their hopes and aspirations.
I capture these images in black + white infrared as the process heightens our perception of these observations, adding dream-like qualities add to the exploration of the forgotten yet timeless past."
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