To read the papers and to listen to the news...one would think the country is in terrible trouble.  You do not get that impression whey you travel the back roads and the small towns do care about their country and wish it well.  -Charles Kuralt, Journalist 1934-1977

brothers.

Ricky and Larry were just walking out to Victoria's Diner on the corner after having a country sized breakfast.  They had just come into Clover for a quick trip and were headed back home to their Grandma's house where they live and take care of her.

These two guys were hilarious to talk to and are probably the most Southern people I've met during this project...I love meeting new personalities on the streets of Clover.

interesting. LIFE.

100 faces.

DeeDee visited New York City and fell in love with the paninis there.  She had never tasted anything quite as wonderful in the Charlotte, NC area.  So she brought the flavor and the recipes home to Clover, SC, chased her dream for the perfect panini, and opened her shop, Soupanini, less than a year ago.

I noticed it the first day it was open when I drove past.  I was so excited about a healthy place to eat in town.  The food is wonderful.  It's NYC inspired...southern hospitality...you have to visit!  My favorite is the turkey and basil panini...and the potato soup...oh!  Delicious.

I love hearing about dreams coming true and especially meeting people who go out and just make it happen.

I'm so glad DeeDee had dream about food...

and opened up shop in Clover, SC.

YUM.

dream. LIFE.

all his life.

Jody has lived in Clover nearly all of his life.  When he was just 16 years old his cross-country-trucker-father occasionally took Jody on the road with him.  On those trips Jody discovered that being on the road was in his blood.  He loved the long stretches of road, the quiet hum of tire to pavement, and the country side reaching out around him.

The road called to him for many years after that.  In the meantime he married, joined the police force, and started raising a family.

And still the road called to him.

After many years on the force he decided to heed the call.  The life of arrests, domestic violence calls, and drug bust were not the life he was meant to live.  He yearned for the freedom that long drives through midwest golden cornfields and snow topped mountains gave him.

He would be on the road for weeks at a time, cooking his dinner under the hood of his huge 18 wheeler engine.  Packing foil dinners, driving for hours until the clear juices gave way to mouth watering smell, and then stopping at a truck stop to lift the hood and pull the steak and potatoes out from next to the engine.  He'd get out his lawn chair and cooler and enjoy his homecooked meal. 

For miles and miles....

Eventually, his heart would call him home...and it always would...

Until finally, his heart brought him home permanently to stay with his sweet wife and family.  He gave up the long and open road so that he could be where he really wanted to be.  Home.

He now drives locally in Clover and is glad to be near his family...

and sometimes in a distant whisper he hears the call of the open road...

fulfilled. LIFE.

left to right.

Tristan. Megan. Tim.

Sherrie. Lauren. Jim.

Angela. David. Misty.

100 faces.

I've started the 365 day project about 10 times...as you know...

I do pretty well for a week or so and then something happens and a day goes by without me picking up my camera...and suddenly, without realizing it, I've not done my 365 project for a week.  I've shot images but not with my project in mind.

So...I decided I needed a project that didn't need my undivided attention for a certain amount of time every day...one that felt more like me and more real for what I love and one that I would be less apt to let fall through the cracks of my 4 children day.  I'm sure there are women out there with four children that can remember to do a 365 day project...I'm not one of them.  I tried to be...

many times...

again...

and again.

Not happening.

When I first got my SLR camera as a Christmas gift from my husband the year my sweet twin missies were born I took some community art center photography classes.  I was intrigued with the street photography of Henri Cartier Bresson and Doisneau.  I had been thinking to myself, "someday, I'm going to go to Paris and Italy and take some images like those."  

And then one day...probably when I was changing a poopy diaper...I realized..."What am I waiting for?! There is a downtown street here in my town.  I could just go down there and see what I see.  My life is at my own back door.  I don't have to travel 1/2 way around the world for my life to start."

That's when it happened...I fell in love with photography.  

That's when I realized that I could say something, I could see something.

Something that hadn't been said before...with my eyes.

I was nervous.  I didn't know what people would say or how they would react.  I just started walking around with my camera.  Some hoped they would be in the newspaper and were a little disappointed when I would say I was just doing a personal project.

Eventually, people saw my work.  I had multiple exhibitions and requests for my work to hang on the walls of shops on that street.

It became something that I didn't know it would become.  I met people I would have never met.  I learned things I would have never learned.  Things like:

Rail riders are a whole culture of people who want to see the world.  And they are interesting and I wish I could spend a year of my life seeing what they see, being who they are.

The street used to be the hub of the railroads back in the day.  It was bustling with activity and filled with entertainment.

There are underground tunnels from the days of prohibition.

There's nothing like a spring day with romance in the air on 25th street.

The downfall of one small business can change the entire feel of the street.

There's a farmers market every Saturday.

In the summer there's a Movie in the park every Monday night.

Old men who have lost their wives walk in a lonely haze down the same path everyday.

A bird lives on the top of a fence near Bistro 258.  One of her little babies fell out of the nest one day.  I saw a dad and his daughter gently return the sweet little bird to it's nest.

I saw couples who are in love walk down the street together...and couples who aren't in love anymore.

...I met friends because I got brave enough one day to walk downtown with my camera.

After moving here to Clover, I realized I'd not been downtown to see what's it's like where I live...I don't know the heart and soul of main street and so, I decided, it's time to change that...

And my project was born.

100 Faces of Clover.

In my last project in Ogden I didn't approach people very often.  I just saw and documented.  I used my 70-200mm most of the time.  It was safe.  I miss that and I think I'll still do some of that. 

For this project, though, I use my 50/1.2 or my 85/1.4 and ask people if I can take their picture.  Oh baby!  Every time I go out I'm so nervous until I get that first person under my belt!

My project is to get 100 faces of Clover.  Learn some of their stories and post them here.

I'm not sure where this is going to take me but I love the stories I've heard and the people I've met so far.

For some of my posts, I'll just show faces.  Other posts will be a face of Clover and a story to go with it.

This project doesn't require me to do something every day but its a project that incorporates some fun, some getting out of the house, people (my favorite part), and a plan.

What project are you working on?

daring. LIFE.