Field Notes
A frame or two or three from wherever the work takes me. From random shots to the ones that didn’t become a project, and everything in between — some I chased down, others were just a great time.
More of this work coming September—October.
CONANT APPLE ORCHARDS — ETNA, MAINE — SEPTEMBER 1994
Followed one of the pickers for a few days. Migrant, seasonal — moves wherever the work opens up and doesn’t stay long. Wouldn’t give his name on the record. Wouldn't let me write anything down while we talked. For the notes I’m calling him Dave.
Quiet the whole time, but not unfriendly. We shared lunch and some personal conversation, and he took an interest in why I document strangers like himself. Off the record he was a kind man. My read was that he was running from something — never asked, he never said. What he’d allow: photograph the work, talk with the notebook closed. So that’s what I’ve got. No biography, no history, no next stop. Just the days in a row.
ICE FISHERMAN — VERMONT — 2022
I was scouting a cover story, and I’d spent days crossing Vermont’s big lakes, hunting ice thick enough for ice fishing and to carry a Jeep. A few hours out, the sun was aiming to set. I was out driving on the ice, stopped, and started walking the frozen surface when I walked up on him — alone, line set, working the last of the light.
We fell into conversation. He let me make his portrait, and showed off the fish he was pulling up with real pride. We stood out there together for the better part of an hour. I thanked him for the company and for sharing his personal story. Then I moved on, traveled north across the lake with my Jeep parked far behind.
CONEY ISLAND — BROOKLYN — MEMORIAL DAY 2014
The strange and the fun, shot grainy and distorted in homage to filmmaker Tim Burton.
