Process and practice.

#50

I recently took a short road trip to visit family in North Carolina and Virginia. As always, I took backroads where I could. I only made a few pictures, but I enjoyed seeing my family and appreciated the time driving through rural spaces.

Heading south from Benson, North Carolina, I turned my truck around to photograph the above mural along Highway 50 by Zac Bender, a Raleigh-based muralist, on a barn on J Roland Farms property. This mural is part of Benson’s Public Art Trail.

My approximate route from January 3-6, 2025.

Back home now, I’m sorting through the stacks on my desk and trying to develop a more organized workflow. I tend to keep neat stacks and piles of things, but inevitably, I misplace something and spend more time than I’d like trying to track it down.

I’m working on three photographic projects right now, all of which I’ll share and write more about here. I always appreciate videos and articles that give me a peek behind the curtain of an artist’s process and practice. I think it can be a great disservice to always present everything as perfectly polished and curated. In fact, I think sometimes the process of arriving at a certain photograph is as interesting (if not more) than the final picture.

For the last year and a half, I’ve worked almost exclusively digitally. I’ve shaped my practice to be more intentional, which has made me more willing to slow down. I often don’t even look at the pictures I’ve made for several days, which I tell myself is like sending off a roll of film to the lab and waiting for the negatives to come back.

Printing is another critical piece of my practice as a photographer. For me, a picture doesn’t feel real until I’ve printed it. Once I’ve printed it, it becomes a thing, a tangible object that can be moved around on a work table or wall and seen in different light at different times of day.

What do you think about process? Does it help inform your understanding of an artist’s work?

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Notes:

• Speaking of process and making prints, this Todd Hido video is worth your time.

• Keep an eye out in the coming weeks as I’ll be announcing a print sale.

• I recommend Cover-Up from directors Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus.

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I’ll leave you with a short video of the 39 times I photographed the marquee at the Cinderella Theatre in Williamson, West Virginia in 2025.

Thanks!

- Roger