Mill Road

In a previous project, I used motion activated trail cameras to capture photos of wildlife. The camera would send images to my cell phone, revealing realities that were in another place.

But the wilds of nature and the tangled animal paths are not the only hidden worlds. Humans also have their trails and habitats that can be observed in the communities where they live. For the Mill Road Project, a trail camera was mounted next to a popular road in my own neighborhood, the hamlet of Palenville, New York. The camera soon revealed the pulse of the village and I was able to quietly observe the comings and goings of a small town.

The camera was set to do a burst of three shots, capturing a tiny moment of activity. In a wink toward Eadweard Muybridge, the English photographer whose pioneering work in 1877 studied animal locomotion, the three images are shown in a strip of three.

The observations include swimmers going to the creek, boys riding bicycles, a firetruck responding to an emergency, athletes running, mothers and children walking and more; a living montage of human activity.

trail camera photographs on birch panels with beeswax
Limited edition available 8x24 inches