I am in deep work on another project, a collection of photographs I’ve taken over the years on historic Route No. 1 between Fredericksburg and Richmond, Virginia. I’m culling through the archives and making new work, too. The photos form a kind of map of my life and I’m thinking this may be the theme or narrative that hold this series together. It’s about those mileposts along the road that we look for or those landmarks that mark the place where we change direction. Those places we pull over. The signs that tell us we’re on the right path and those that comfort us when we feel as though we are lost.

I’m holding this work close to my heart as it grows. I am protective of these pictures. Most of them are not stand alone pictures. It is only now, as I bring them all together, that I begin to see their significance. This journey is meaningful for me, and if it is meaningful for me, it may be that it will resonate with others, too. Who knows?

Some photography projects have definite timelines. They start and end based on an event, a journey, or a story. But others meander along taking their own good time. This is the way it is for my project, Signs of the Times. I started the project back in 2012, or at least that’s when the first picture was taken (the one of the 2400 Diner). The collection has grown slowly and continues to surprise and delight me. We pulled into the truck stop to turn around and there it was, the sign on top of the building in big red letters . . . SERVICE DEPT.