It's All About the Text, Mostly

This essay is a very condensed juxtaposition of two photo essays I shot when I was younger. One is a photo essay of an almost year long motorcycle journey exploring North America. The city images are from a body of work shot while I was studying photography in New York City. I didn’t set out to use text as an element in my photography but when I saw it happening I decided to explore the trend. That move was not well received by my peers of the time. I was castigated for polluting the purity of photography with text. I understand the criticism but still don’t agree with it. I initially pulled together this series of images as a rebuttal to that point of view, hence the title. In this essay I also wanted to counterpoint the spaciousness and relative serenity of rural existence against the congestion, noise and chaos of city living. I am very aware of the benefits of urban life for most but feel that, for myself, the downsides outweigh the upsides. I continue to plan my escape from big city life back to a calmer and quieter existence in a more rural environment. Finally I thought that a touch of levity might not be a bad thing in these challenging and dangerous times. Thank you for your time and consideration. Francis Livingston