ooamerica: ooa's USA Road Trip

Second set of American ‘portraits’ and largest from a given region visited during the USA road-trip(s): East Coast and Carolinas (list of names at bottom).

+ I ran into a ‘celebrity’ who was willing to answer the question “What’s your philosophy in life?” so will be posting a surprise ‘Epilogue’ video very soon.

The following 2 paragraphs are the same for other posts in this American portraits series, spare yourself the second read and please share!

These will serve as way of introduction for some of the interviewees featured in the movie and hopefully give viewers an idea of the demographics encountered – and through that shed light on the possible biases or commonalities in the selection of people met along the road, as well as their answers. Though I sought to interview a wide array of people from different socio-cultural backgrounds, I’m aware of some of the limitations or under-representations in the selection of people featured (ie: fewer women than men were willing to be interviewed on camera, and some ‘types’ of people such as public servants or perhaps more influential people are less likely to give an interview to a road-running stranger driving across the country in a white minivan – nobody should, really).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Why quote-unquote ‘portraits’?

I hadn’t set out to do a series of photo portraits (though I should have – and will correct this deficiency in future projects) so these were taken on the fly, ‘as a way to get the focus right’ in the seconds before a video interview. And most of these (due to forgetfulness at the time) are simply screenshots from the video interviews. All pictures were treated similarly in LightRoom using a unique adjustment of contrasting and sharpening so please excuse their coarseness – I suppose this is a guilt-felt excuse for the untailored esthetic of these shots.

Featured here, and special thanks to them (city corresponds to where I met them, not always where they’re from):

1) Williamsburg VA and Chapel Hill NC

-       Carolyn, Chapel Hill NC, French teacher

-       Cow-boy, Chapel Hill NC, epicurean

-       Kerry, Williamsburg VA, works at hot dog shop

-       John, Chapel Hill NC, University of North Carolina undergrad

-       Jordan, Chapel Hill NC, schoolboy

-       Ruby, Chapel Hill NC, Duke undergrad

-       Steven, Williamsburg VA, (from Las Vegas), siderunner during professional runner Jason Lester’s cross-country run

2) Myrtle Beach SC

-       Britney and Kyle, Myrtle Beach SC, expecting couple

-       Jack, SC, fisher

-       Jere, Hilton Head SC, son of stone mason, sociology professor

-       Kay, Hilton Head SC, school teacher,

-       Meredith, Myrtle Beach SC, certified trainer at Olive Garden, aspiring cosmetologist

-       Shawn (Parrington), Isle of Palms SC, recently lost a family member

-       Whitney, Myrtle Beach NC, product sales manager for girl scouts

3) Allendale SC

-       Chantale, Allendale SC, diner waitress

-       Crystal and kids, Allendale SC, South Carolinian public servant

-       Deli manager, Allendale SC

-       Emily, Will and K, Allendale SC, Church volunteer

-       Hustler, Allendale SC, misses having a purpose

-       Jim Boone, Allendale SC, hunting lodge owner

-       Joanna, Allendale SC, community worker

-       Joey, Allendale SC, pastor and community worker

-       Tucker, Allendale SC, high school soccer player and Church volunteer

-       Will and Melissa, Allendale SC, soccer coach and artist