David Alan Harvey has turned his cameras on America with a fresh idea. Instead of having a producer find the American subjects, he wants Americans to find his subjects. And by doing so, becoming part of this unique project.

Creating a personal vision sometimes means taking risks. He acknowledges that the idea is still fledgling and that it could crash around him. Such is life. But I think he will do this, somehow, someway. It is such a compelling idea.

David Alan Harvey’s Site. Read the whole Blog post here: Off For A Family Road Trip.
The family is us…

“for the last several months , i had been planning to cross the U.S.and work on the project so explained below…yes yes a “portrait” of America….sure, done before…..and done very well before…Frank, Kerouac, Thompson, Winogrand, Twain, Steinbeck,Least-Heat-Moon, Pirsig, just for starters…i think about these authors… i light a candle to all those writers whose books i devoured and made me both question and respect, or those photographers whose work has given me a “lust” that has driven me for a long time…

it is with this “lust” (and i cannot think of a synonym right now) that i now will spend the better part of this year and maybe next, photographing my country through its families!…vignettes…portraits…fantasy…reality…..med format film…b&w and color neg…..supplemented maybe by SX-70 or disposable camera snaps…anyway, i am planning the exhibit before the first roll of film has been processed…very big prints, snapshot board, home movies, etc etc…and maybe one hand made album for exhibition purposes only….

so i am off….ROAD TRIP !!! i will look in the rear view mirror of course…but, looking down the road ahead, knowing for sure that the unexpected will happen (guaranteed) , a “treasure” uncovered, is where i want to be..

“road trip” , especially a coast to coast trip, is an American teenager’s fantasy…i guess some “adults” stay stuck on the concept as well..

in any case , here is a letter i wrote about my project to our Magnum staff a few weeks ago:

“My plan is to literally drive zigzag across the country from New York to California. I will meet, photograph and video tape a conglomerate and representative demographic of the U.S.. For example, I could photograph a wealthy socialite family in the Hamptons , a New Orleans gay couple raising a baby, an Iowa farm family who lost a daughter or son in Iraq, a Native American family at a powwow, an exhiled family from Tibet, a Mormon wedding , a Bar or Bat Mitzvah family scene , a Vietnamese fishing family, a Muslim executive with her husband, a Mexican Quinceanera fiesta , Buddhist monks, a Sufi with three wives, a West Virginia coal miner and his wife, and a surfer dude with his tattooed 15yrs. old bride and Frisbee catching Lab retriever.All of the people that make this immigrant country “tick” in the first place. Anyone will quickly see that my American Family will be (if it works), in fact, a “stylized portrait” of our simmering international stew….”

You should read the whole thing, bookmark his extraordinary blog and think about participating somehow.

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