Process 069 ☼ Small Town USA - From the Vault
GIVEAWAY: A pro portfolio review session
Dear friends,
In this week’s letter I dive into my archive to a whopping 21 years ago when Yung Wesley walked around a small town in the United States with a digital camera.
This week’s PROCESS GIVEAWAY is a portfolio review during which the winner and I spend an hour digging through their existing portfolio and come out with ways to improve it and guidance on which images to focus on.
Housekeeping
My latest article for Lens Culture is up and it’s an interview with Lewis Khan about a new project of his. Read it here.
Small Town USA
The setting of a small town in the United States of America has inspired many books, TV shows, and movies. It’s always been fascinating to me from a photography point of view as well. I’ve photographed small towns in California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, and New York state, always coming away with interesting impressions. Some of these towns struggle as they were effectively left behind by industry, while others have become picturesque escape pods for people who made their money in the big city.
Recently I was digging through the oldest parts of my archives and came across a set of images I shot in Warsaw, NY, population 5064, in 2001. I was visiting a lovely family who lived there and was able to take some time away for a solo walk downtown.
I borrowed a then-new Kodak DC4800 Zoom Digital Camera, set it to black and white, and snapped away without really knowing what I was doing. I was happily surprised looking back how, 21 years later, the quality of these images is actually pretty decent, especially considering it’s a 3 megapixel camera. For comparison, my Canon 5D Mark IV has 30.4 megapixels and your average 2022 security camera has at least 5 megapixels. Here’s what this little relic looks like:
I wish I knew then what I knew now and had shot so many more pictures that afternoon, digging deeper and connecting more with the local people to take their portraits, but I was much more shy then about talking to strangers.
Here are some of my favorite images from that day.
I remember being so fascinated by this town and the environment. I grew up in a small rural town thousands of miles away from this one and even though much of the culture was different in its details, the broad strokes were so similar.
Families working hard to provide their kids with a future better than theirs during a challenging time in the economy. Small business owners knowing everyone of their customers by name and greeting them like a friend. Meals and laughter and sorrow shared over a home-cooked meal. Long stretches of nothing at all and suddenly a sprinkling of houses in between the farm land. People feeling forgotten and wanting to be seen.
I haven’t been back to Warsaw, NY, since but I doubt it has changed much just like my hometown really hasn’t changed much since I left so long ago. A small town will always be a big story for me, or rather a big collection of stories. Looking back through this portfolio makes me want to find another small town to explore and get to know on foot with my camera in tow and a friendly hand extended to everyone I meet.
Takeaways
Small towns have lots of stories if you look carefully and with patience.
Stories about families can be both specific and universal. That’s a powerful combination in storytelling.
As film camera prices keep going up old digital cameras are making a comeback. Seeing at how these images held up maybe there’s something to it.
That’s it for this week!
Next week: A studio visit with a wonderful painter in Portugal shot on film with flash, plus some lessons learned from mistakes made by myself and the Process community.
Keep shooting and take good care of yourselves and others.
Wesley
Process Giveaway!
As part of my work as a curator I occassionally open up a few slots per quarter to engage in mentor sessions and portfolio reviews. I love providing a different perspective on a body of work for photographers who, after spending lots of time with their own work, often have a hard time knowing which images are their best.
This week I am giving away one such portfolio review to a Process subscriber who will be randomly drawn from this week’s Giveaway entries. The portfolio review will happen via Zoom, unless the winner happens live in or near Amsterdam, and it takes about an hour. At the end of the session you will have more clarity on which images are your strongest and how you can further improve your portfolio to pitch your work.
To enter this Giveaway visit the Process Flip page and record a video in which you answer the following question:
What would be your dream client to pitch your portfolio to, and why?
Your answer can be a newspaper like The Guardian, a commercial client like Patagonia, a magazine like GQ, as small or big as you’d like.
ENTER THIS WEEK’S GIVEAWAY HERE before 11pm EST on August 20th.
The process of recording and/or uploading a video is easy and fast, and can be done on mobile via the Flipgrid app and on desktop in your browser. Almost 200 kind and generous people did it last week, included lots of shy photo folks (we all are!) so don’t feel nervous, it’s a safe community to share and learn from each other. <3
The winner will be randomly drawn and notified. This giveaway is for Process subscribers only. Subscribe by clicking the button below:
Shout out to the team over at Flip for partnering with Process to make this new Giveaway system possible. You can enter the Giveaway on mobile via the Flipgrid app or on desktop in a browser.
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Wow those images are beautiful. Really considering that third takeaway and looking into an old digital camera that has a natural, film-esque quality to it. I wonder if it'll hold up as well with colour.