Graham Crackers are a uniquely American treat created in the mid-19th century by Sylvester Graham who was a vegetarian and advocate for abstinence (no drinking, no masturbation).
If the photographer David Graham is related, it is only by blood. He embraces life and is only slightly crackers although he is mad for the great American Road Trip. It seems that he has driven all the major highways from Route 66 to the Pacific Coast Highway to US 1 on the Atlantic Coast returning periodically to his own backyard of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
My favorite Graham site is in Arizona between the Grand Canyon and Phoenix. Driving along U.S. Route 17 seemingly in the middle of nowhere, I spotted the “Bring the Camera” rock by the side of the road. I braked and jumped out of the car. There it was.
Graham Crackers are a uniquely American treat created in the mid-19th century by Sylvester Graham who was a vegetarian and advocate for abstinence (no drinking, no masturbation).
If the photographer David Graham is related, it is only by blood. He embraces life and is only slightly crackers although he is mad for the great American Road Trip. It seems that he has driven all the major highways from Route 66 to the Pacific Coast Highway to US 1 on the Atlantic Coast returning periodically to his own backyard of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
My favorite Graham site is in Arizona between the Grand Canyon and Phoenix. Driving along U.S. Route 17 seemingly in the middle of nowhere, I spotted the “Bring the Camera” rock by the side of the road. I braked and jumped out of the car. There it was.
David Graham, “Approaching the Grand Canyon, AZ’,1986
I felt oddly elated. The site and the paint were older and more weather beaten than in Graham’s original for he had photographed it magically. His rock is bigger and better. It’s redder, and the sky is bluer. The horizon is infinite. His is heroic, a bold declaration to come visit, to explore life, to be present!
David Graham, Zen master. Who knew?
There are many conceptions of how a street photographer might behave, moving from point A to B, liberated with their light weight digital 35 millimeter cameras, scrambling all over town, from crowded demonstrations to quieter urban parks to wherever.
Graham likes people and life and quirky things, the peculiar and unexpected, but he goes slowly. He often uses a larger format camera on a tripod, and he seems to have a homing device for locating the unlikely. His American Roadside is a “trip" as in an hallucinatory journey for which the AAA doesn’t have a guide. It is all in plain sight.
David Graham is a great American photographer.
The great part is a given. The American part of that speaks to Graham’s gumption, his initiative and resourcefulness in zeroing in on the spectacular in the everyday on this extended road trip of almost 40 years.
Look at the titles of his classic books, “Only in America” (1991), “Land of the Free” (1999)), “American Beauty” (1987), “Taking Liberties” (2001) and “Declaring Independence” (2004). Next up is certainly “Purple Mountain Majesties” On the surface it seems as if the whole oeuvre may be a big fish story (See the cover of “American Beauty”), except that Graham is a Road Scholar, reporting and not exaggerating. The heartbeat is full and pumping, energizing the journey. These are short tales, post cards home from the road. He brings care and joy, artistry and an unusually keen sense of color to his image making.
The work is heartfelt and smart. What seems like a quick glance out of the car window is a slower, more plodding, probing look under each rock, an intuitive enlightened inquiry done with an open eye. He appreciates the unlikely and uncanny.
His story telling of a long idyllic marriage on a lonely island in “Alone Together” is as tender and sharp as Chekhov.
He loves signs and murals. “REALLY REALLY GOOD," “BRING THE CAMERA," “BUY NOW PAY LATER," “HAND CAR WASH," “ALMOST PARADISE” and “GOOD LUCK” are the messages left for him to uncover on the side of the road.
Graham brings a wicked and hearty sense of humor. He sees funny. He finds the irony, the illogical, and the crazy balance with grown Shriners in kiddie cars. “A Burger That Ate LA," Elvis. It is decent and sweetly, surreally ludicrous.
W.M. Hunt is a writer and collector based in New York.
©2021
David Graham, “Approaching the Grand Canyon, AZ’,1986
I felt oddly elated. The site and the paint were older and more weather beaten than in Graham’s original for he had photographed it magically. His rock is bigger and better. It’s redder, and the sky is bluer. The horizon is infinite. His is heroic, a bold declaration to come visit, to explore life, to be present!
David Graham, Zen master. Who knew?
There are many conceptions of how a street photographer might behave, moving from point A to B, liberated with their light weight digital 35 millimeter cameras, scrambling all over town, from crowded demonstrations to quieter urban parks to wherever.
Graham likes people and life and quirky things, the peculiar and unexpected, but he goes slowly. He often uses a larger format camera on a tripod, and he seems to have a homing device for locating the unlikely. His American Roadside is a “trip" as in an hallucinatory journey for which the AAA doesn’t have a guide. It is all in plain sight.
David Graham is a great American photographer.
The great part is a given. The American part of that speaks to Graham’s gumption, his initiative and resourcefulness in zeroing in on the spectacular in the everyday on this extended road trip of almost 40 years.
Look at the titles of his classic books, “Only in America” (1991), “Land of the Free” (1999)), “American Beauty” (1987), “Taking Liberties” (2001) and “Declaring Independence” (2004). Next up is certainly “Purple Mountain Majesties” On the surface it seems as if the whole oeuvre may be a big fish story (See the cover of “American Beauty”), except that Graham is a Road Scholar, reporting and not exaggerating. The heartbeat is full and pumping, energizing the journey. These are short tales, post cards home from the road. He brings care and joy, artistry and an unusually keen sense of color to his image making.
The work is heartfelt and smart. What seems like a quick glance out of the car window is a slower, more plodding, probing look under each rock, an intuitive enlightened inquiry done with an open eye. He appreciates the unlikely and uncanny.
His story telling of a long idyllic marriage on a lonely island in “Alone Together” is as tender and sharp as Chekhov.
He loves signs and murals. “REALLY REALLY GOOD," “BRING THE CAMERA," “BUY NOW PAY LATER," “HAND CAR WASH," “ALMOST PARADISE” and “GOOD LUCK” are the messages left for him to uncover on the side of the road.
Graham brings a wicked and hearty sense of humor. He sees funny. He finds the irony, the illogical, and the crazy balance with grown Shriners in kiddie cars. “A Burger That Ate LA," Elvis. It is decent and sweetly, surreally ludicrous.
©2021