I am considering this photography project as a way of comparing the historical and contemporary landscape, and also understanding both the meditative and the spectacular qualities of moving on foot over long distances. I am making photographs by following (nonsequentially) the route of the ultimate photo-bro, Charles Fletcher Lummis, took on foot from Ohio to California in 1896 (with a long stop in New Mexico).
This project begins with a gift of glass plate negatives from my a friend, the photographer and educator, Shelby Roberts. The negatives were found in a thrift store in New Mexico.
As pieces of photographic ephemera, they are outstanding and hold their own specific gravity. They also serve as an entrance point and an invitation to re-trace an epic walk across North America — in an attempt to find out how the landscape has been changed physically, socially, and environmentally since the original walk.
Finally, I am completing this wandering project to further my understanding of the ways photography, colonialism, and environmental destruction may be woven together in the contemporary American landscape.
