American Ground
WHEN I first saw Aaron Siskind’s Glove photograph (Gloucester, 1944) around 1965 I was amazed. This was in the George Eastman House where I was working for Nathan Lyons as a Museum Assistant while studying photography at R.I.T. The picture was so simple and expressive—just an old glove and a couple of planks. It had a lot in common with Weston’s work on Point Lobos which also amazed me. Both highly formal and brilliant—and both looking down.
Just as the photographs in this book were made—with the camera looking down. But while my pictures were not made with formal expressive beauty as my primary objective, there are strong links to that aesthetic.
When I began this series I thought it was partly in response to my feeling that the world is “over-photographed.” That is, it seemed to me that everything has already been photographed from every angle and I’m bored with the idea of more pictures of things. Consequently, when faced with the dilemma of how to photograph a notable landmark or other subject, I decided to “not” photograph it by looking down and recording what lie at my feet.
This approach seemed particularly apt since some of the subjects have no other physical dimension, such as General Robert E. Lee’s headquarters for three days in 1865 in Appomattox. Or the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. Of course, most locations do have something to focus on other than the ground, but I felt the ground to be more revealing. I am not interested in another photograph of the Bank of America or Graceland, and what became clear early on was that the ground functions as a metaphor for how I feel about a site and is far more meaningful to me than a more inclusive picture.
The photographs in this post are selected from a series I took on a cross-country pilgrimage in 2003 on my BMW motorcycle. For an illustrated narrative version of the journey (see American Ground:the journey).
Route 26, near Elma, VA
July 26, 2003 1:08:51 pm
N37° 45′ 04.2 W78° 52′ 45.7
Elevation: 740 ft.
General Lee’s Headquarters from April 8th to April 11th,1865
Appomattox, VA
July 26, 2003 2:44:05 pm
N37° 23′ 31.3 W078° 46′ 53.4
Elevation: 675 ft.
K25 National Laboratory, Oakridge,TN
July 29, 2003 12:07 pm
N35° 55′ 24.2 W084° 23′ 28.2
Elevation: 751 ft.
Elvis Presley’s Grave site
Graceland, TN
July 31, 2003 11:52:47 am
N35° 02′ 44.5 W90° 01′ 32.4
Elevation: 255 ft.
Buffalo River, AK
August 1, 2003 6:21:26pm
N36° 03′ 41.5 W93° 82′ 20.0
Bank of America
Oklahoma City, OK
August 2, 2003 4:31:40 pm
N35°29’12.8 W97°30’54.2
Elevation: 1240 ft.
Route 66 Museum, Clinton, OK
August 3, 2003 8:18:12 am
N35° 30′ 23.6 W098° 59′ 10.8
Elevation: 1595 ft.
Texas Panhandle
4.5 miles west of Adrian on CR-18
August 3, 2003 12:21:01 pm
N35° 15′ 46.4 W102° 44′ 39.9
Elevation: 4174 ft.
Santuario de Chimayo Chimayo, NM
August 05, 2003 12:39:57 pm
N35° 59′ 20.0 W105° 55′ 52.7
Hernandez, NM
August 08, 2003 5:42:54 pm
N36° 02′ 20.8 W106° 05′ 55.0
Elevation: 5678 ft.
Route 66, La Bajada, NM
August 7, 2003 1:45:01 pm
N35°33’11.7 W106°14’01.0
PlazaBlanca,NM
August8,2003 1:48:01pm
N36°13’56.7W106°18’11.06
Elevation:6082ft.
Only Adobe Mosque in Western Hemisphere
Dar al Islam, Abiquiu, NM
August 08, 2003 1:35:20 pm
N36° 13′ 55.3 W106° 18′ 34.2
Elevation: 6218 ft.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, NM
August 12, 2003 11:31:50 am
N35° 52′ 58.4 W106° 19′ 05.2
Elevation: 7125 ft.
Abiquiu,NM;
August,8,2003 2:13:56pm
N36°12’25.4W106°19’09.5
Elevation:6060 ft.
Valle Grande, NM
August 12, 2003 12:20:40 pm
N35° 51′ 06.5 W106° 27′ 21.1
Monastery of Christ in the Desert
Abiquiu, NM
August 8, 2003 4:19:30 pm
N36° 22′ 41.1 W106° 40′ 49.7
Shiprock, NM
August 12, 2003 5:28:29 pm
N36° 41′ 55.7 W108° 42′ 31.4
Elevation: 5229 ft.
Four Corners
Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico
August 12, 2003 6:34:01 pm
N36° 59′ 45.4 W109° 02′ 34.8
Elevation: 4857 ft.
Zion National Park
Springdale, Utah
August 13, 2003 4:03:15 pm
N37° 12′ 54.4 W112° 57′ 51.5
Elevation: 4480 ft.
Breakdown on Interstate 15
Las Vegas, NV
August 14, 2003 11:37:04 am
N36° 20′ 16.8 W114° 55′ 00.2
Elevation: 2484 ft.
Caesar’s Palace
Las Vegas, NV
August 17, 2003 5:59:37 pm
N36° 06′ 59.5 W115° 10′ 27.3
Death Valley, CA
August, 18, 2003 6:15:05 pm
N36° 03′ 46.4 W116° 45′ 12.2
Elevation: 10 ft.
Badwater Basin, Death Valley, CA
Lowest Point in the Western Hemisphere
August 18, 2003 6:52:30 pm
N36° 13′ 47.4 W116° 46′ 02.6
Elevation: -282 ft.
May, Death Valley, CA
August 18, 2003 6:13:07 pm
N36° 03′ 46.2 W116° 45′ 12.1
Elevation: 10 ft.
Mono Lake, CA
August, 19, 2003 3:59:13 pm
N37° 58′ 02.0 W119° 07′ 12.2
Elevation: 6700 ft.
Yosemite National Park, CA
August 19, 2003 6:15:12 pm
N37° 47′ 01.5 W119° 44′ 33.1
Hearst & 4th Streets, Berkeley, CA
August 21, 2003 2:00:03 pm
N37° 52′ 06.9 W122° 18′ 02.8
Elevation: 8 ft.
Labyrinth at Grace Cathedral
San Francisco, CA
August 20, 2003 5:20:12 pm
N37° 47′ 31.8 W122° 24′ 45.7
Elevation: 280 ft.