Commuting Series 1982-1985

Commuting Series 1982 -1985
As I started graduate school I made the decision to not play it safe. I would try to challenge myself, taking a new significantly different approach to my photography. I began to work with color transparency film. I shot with a toy Diana camera that I had first bought for my daughter.

After I taught myself the Cibachrome printing process and dialed in (as best I could) my primitive camera, there were new aesthetic issues to resolve. Beyond composing to a square format, what would be my subject?

I was primarily a street photographer who now had little time to work the street. I’ve always enjoyed driving, but during these years I was a drivin’ fool. Between commuting to Ann Arbor for grad classes 3 - 4 days a week, working several part time jobs, driving my future wife to work and my tweener daughter to malls, roller rinks and such on the weekends, I was practically living behind the wheel.

So the windshield became my frame for finding new subject matter. I tried to take as many different routes to the same destinations as I could, always scanning the horizon for potential photographs. There is a certain loneliness to these images that perhaps comes from these travels. The space in these frames is left a little emptier and I leaned toward a palate that is on the cool side. People are largely absent unless ghosted or fragmented by multiple exposure. My content became quieter and more contemplative. I was happiest if the images didn’t give up all of their secrets.