I drove 80,000 miles all over America just to visit 125 tiny towns with funny names. I made a portrait in a different town every day.
The images and stories became two coffee table books. Here are some of my Americans from the first book: Passing Gas And Other Towns Along The American Highway.


Deep in the Tennessee hills we meet Terry and Jack Harrison, two young gents sporting long mountain-men beards, who pop out of the darkness of a small barn. They say they are potato farmers.

Billie Clark, retired corrections officer, and his wife, Shirley. Dull, Ohio, is a tiny community outside the hamlet of Ohio City.

Bonnie owns Bonnie’s Corner Cafe. Giving directions to the restaurant she says “Come on down Highway 54, and if you blink, you’re gonna pass Gas!"

Chris and Gregg Morgan say they don’t know how Fearnot got its name.

Sergeant George Voyles uses the radar gun to monitor the speed of Canadians driving down to the casino. He adds, "We only check them on their way to the casino. Most don’t have any money on the return trip."

Tracy, Garry and Jason DeVries, chicken and egg farmers. Garry says the town was named because in the past, big black snakes made nightly trips into the local hen houses to “suck down all the eggs.”

Tracey Cooper says she's the local splash artist. I ask her what that is and she responds, "I paint houses."
Nothing sits in the middle of nowhere. Its informal address is the 148-and-a-half mile marker on Route 60. Richard Kenworthy is the town's owner and one-quarter of its population.

Great Grandmother Mary Martin shows me photos of her 20 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.


Salon.com
Comments
Susan, meet Sharon, a true natural memoirist who makes me jealous because she already knows about "short."
Nice to hear from you both.
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Doing this project, I found that there's nothing better than working at something that I love and smiling the whole time. (It ought to be against the law.) ;-)
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dianaani, It always makes me feel good when someone sees the things you noticed. You have a photographer’s eye.
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I'll have to check out your website now.