Scott Brownell
Same Town, Different Place | I remember playing in the street, in the rain, while my mom sat on the porch with our neighbors chatting and gossiping about things going on in the town. It happened just about every other evening. Occasionally we would wander off to see our friends on their porch around the corner only to be met with a loud call to get back home. My mom raised four children without a father in a small town in Michigan. She came to rely on the neighbors to help watch us until we were old enough to watch ourselves.
At a point about three years ago, my interest started turning back to the beginnings, and to the things that inspired me at first. I have traveled back to my home town along with new places to photograph them and to explore how they maintain their stature in American life. I walk neighborhoods with a camera and talk to strangers. Sometimes I am passing through, and sometimes I am invited into their homes to have lunch. There is a simplicity on the surface but the details, landscape, and people of these smaller towns tell many stories. I am interested in how they lay life’s groundwork for the people who live there, as it did for me. www.scottbrownell.com
