About this site
For the past four years I have been visiting small towns, festivals and other events, looking for images that relate to my memories of growing up on a farm in Walkerton, IN. These images mirror my personal history, but I am also depicting a people's history grounded in a sense of place.
My aim for this project is to celebrate rural life without idealizing it. Many of my photos contain signs of a previous time in rural life, when locally owned stores and family farms were the norm. Today chain stores and agribusiness are prevalent in rural communities. I look for ways to reveal this change in my photos, often finding humor in the odd juxtapositions that can be found in contemporary rural life.
Above all, I like to take a second look at things people might consider very ordinary, and try to reveal their inherent beauty and individuality.
I set up this site to have a place to share my photos and to catalog the entire body of work. I hope you enjoy the site and please feel free to email your comments.
Purchasing prints
Some of the photos posted here are available for purchase as editioned color giclee prints, signed and unframed. Please visit my portfolio site for sizes and prices for prints.
Why fourteen places to eat?
One of my biggest complaints after moving to Walkerton from Bloomington was that there were not enough places to eat out. Or, rather, practically no places to eat out. So I was happy when news arrived that a new restaurant was opening there. Imagine my surprise when I read a letter to the editor in the local paper against the new restaurant. The letter stated we already had enough places to eat in this town. The writer counted a total of fourteen places to eat, which included four restaurants, three gas stations, four bars, a truck stop, a convenience mart, and a bowling alley.
Kay Westhues