David Plowden's photographs of the rural farming communities of Illinois and Indiana impressed me - simple straight forward records of the icons of a way of life that he considered were destined to disappear from the American landscape or had already. I set out to document my own small town streets, rural store fronts, classic gas pumps and roadside scenes. I also wanted to re-familiarize myself with my square format camera after years of almost exclusively shooting 35mm with motor drives. Criss-crossing the Thumb from Port Huron to Bay City, from the village of Columbiaville to historic Grindstone City - I soon began to feel that I was onto something significant. I had a project.
All within easy reach of my eastside Detroit apartment/studio/darkroom. Two or three days out each time - usually on the weekends. I checked my maps for back roads leading to small towns with interesting names like Bad Axe, Peck and Ubly, Pigeon and Kilmanagh. The anticipation and my expectations for the next day, the next turn in the road urged
me on. The absolute gut excitement and relief of seeing the negatives coming out of the fixer was, as always, very fulfilling. And of course the printing being the ultimate expression of those efforts. And finally this book which has brought the project together.