Americana: A Drive-By Definition

Welcome to a snapshot of the Ozark backroads.

The Backroads, Goshen, Arkansas (January 2024)

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As always, no AI was used in the writing of this piece or the creation of the images.

Americana: A Drive By Definition

The evening sun scorches the fields, the old chicken houses, the ancient trees whose amputated arms stand as memorials to the great ice storm of 2009. The sun is over my shoulder, sneaking toward the horizon. In mere minutes, blue hour will set in, the hour where most photography goes to die. Light—even waning light—is hope, though, so I ride a spine of dirt road past trailers, homesteads, and dilapidated chicken houses looking for a photo.

Cresting a rise, the spine winds down a hill, then up another, and at the base of that road is a wide-bodied hauling truck. There, the sun catches the chrome on the front grill, and that little flash of light grabs me. It is an imperfect moment for photographing. I’m driving, navigating a rutted-out Arkansas backroad while a truck full of grain barrels toward me. And for the record, there’s no good way to compose a photograph while driving, and for liability purposes (I am a lawyer after all), allow me to say this: Thou shalt not shoot and drive. But liability be damned, I grabbed my camera—a new-to-me digital camera that arrived on my doorstep thirty minutes before—raised the lens, and pressed the shutter button. Shot fired, I pushed to the side of the road to let the truck pass, aimed the camera at my rear view mirror, and fired again.