PLACE
Louisiana Highway 1 is to Louisiana what Broadway is the island of Manhattan: a top-left-to-bottom-right byway that traverses a number of neighborhoods of blurred boundaries. Starting in the northwest corner of Louisiana – a “tri-state” area it forms with Arkansas and Texas – the route runs sequentially through oil and timber country, cattle and livestock ranches, pecan and cotton plantations, a sizable chunk of America’s sugar industry, and ultimately to the fishing fleets of the Gulf. Parts 1 and 2 – covering the northern and southern portions, respectively – have been posted. Read more . . .
WORK IN PROGRESS
Most of Trans Pecos is unpopulated. Driving through these portions, one thinks of Douglas Adams’ fictional “Total Perspective Vortex”, a device into which vain souls are thrown as castigation for their sin of vanity. Inside, the transgressor is confronted with the unfathomable scale of the whole of the universe, its sheer infinity overwhelming any vain sense of self. As with the fictitious Total Perspective Vortex, Trans Pecos encompasses incomprehensibly vast space. It at once both fills and is the void: empty yet palpable, at hand but unreachable. Take a sneak peak sneak peek of the work in progress.
ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE
BOWLING THE AMERICAN DREAM, the fascinating photography book on the American bowling alley is taking a big step towards publication: the Kickstarter campaign is live! Stop by Kickstarter and claim your limited run, signed first edition of the book before it's even released – or buy the book with an art-quality print. You can even buy a night of bowling and snack bar dining with the photographer and seven friends! For details on the bowling alley project itself, go to the project page.
As always, feel free to drop us a line at editors@interstatemagazine.com.
INTRODUCTION TO ALEC SOTH, A PHOTOGRAPHER YOU SHOULD KNOW
West Point, New York, 2008
Alec Soth (rhymes with "both") hails from Minnesota, a convenient jumping-off point for his photographic explorations of the geographic middle of America. Much like the photography of Interstate Magazine, Alec's work flows from his slow, purposeful travel through every day America. His images resonate with the personal connections he forges with his subjects, both animate and inanimate. If the work of Interstate Magazine speaks to you, then the work of Alec Soth is sure to speak to you as well.
You can find more information on Alec Soth here, and you can buy his wonderful books on Amazon (of course).
EDITOR'S NOTE: LOUISIANA HIGHWAY 1 – METAPHOR FOR AMERICA AT LARGE
In many ways, LA 1 reflects all of America beyond it. The route traverses numerous, distinct domains, each Louisianian but each decidedly its own. The inhabitants of the timber and oil environs of the northwest share more in common with their fellow cattle ranchers and oilmen in Texas than they do with the Cajuns inhabiting southern LA 1. The shrimpers of the Gulf share more perhaps, with fellow fishermen working the Gulf in Mississippi and Alabama to the east than they do with the sugar cane and chemical plant workers found midway along LA 1. Different as these distinct sub-locales are, their inhabitants are 100% Louisianian in ways both mundane and profound, in precisely the same way that all Americans, despite their diversity and differences, are each 100% American. Read more in this recent blog post.