When I moved from the Northeast to Birmingham, I began photographing the South, which has a look defined by its own peculiar growth and development. There is a proximity of the urban and the rural that can only occur because of the confluence of certain events. What I have photographed—lightning, shotgun houses, social clubs, children on Halloween and the view of the city from the base of the Appalachian Mountains—epitomize the growth and development of the region. The cultural and political history of the place has left its mark on the look of the city. The politics and mores of each are reflected in the look of the people and the photographs reveal a sense of the culture of the individuals, revealing dignity in some and in others a challenge to understand.
