Lost America

I’m a student of history. Everything we have today comes from the past, and to understand how we got to today, you have to look back at the past and see how people lived. America is a still a young country and we’re not far removed from early European settlers and pioneers who journeyed across empty plains to make a life for themselves and their families. Fortunately for us, there are reminders of those long-gone travelers still with us today.

It’s almost unfathomable to our 21st century minds just how different life was for those people, completely different from our interconnected information age where everything is as accessible as the phone in our hands. Life was quieter, calmer– though not always. And sometimes it was unbelievably hard. In the Dust Bowl era in northern Oklahoma for example, children and adults regularly died from lungs choked full of arid dust that you couldn’t escape from, no matter how hard you tried.

I love a good road trip, and these images come as a result of many drives across America over many years. The remnants of past lives are all the more beautiful now as they stand in stark contrast to our modern lives. I wish I could explore and understand each place more, but there will always be more questions than answers.