Truth in Common #23
Morning in Cleveland
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Entry #23 from The Work
Four Kids Riding to School
from the Unsorted Project
pigment print f. 8x10” film
40x50”
Having just entered Cleveland the night before, I was eager to interact with people using the camera. I drove in from the rural West having photographed near Toledo. I often return to places I have been before, and I must bet thankful because there’s always something new to uncover. As the sun was coming up over the hills surrounding the industrial river valley below, I saw these four kids riding to school on their bicycles. They were riding line astern on the sidewalk as the road was a busy four lane during morning rush hour. I knew I had to make their portrait. I parked the van in a nearby lot and got out my camera. All the right elements were there. These were, in no particular order, several interesting faces of contrasting character. Secondly they were engaged in an activity within an interesting area, and finally the light itself matched my vision for the scene and the subjects. I firmly believe in each portrait I make there is an inkling of myself in the person(s) I am photographing. They embody something I admire, either in their appearance or spiritual energy — or in this case the vicarious nature and childhood simplicity of riding to school. Kids have a certain ‘attitude’ that is often fun to capture.
John Sanderson
”The Work”
4/3/2025
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Journal introduction from The Work
The American landscape in my time. Thousands upon thousands of miles traversed in search of pictures.
They become pictures when I see something.
Something which cannot be explained in words, only related to on some level of empathy.
Feeling with the light, subject or an arrangement of the two.
Driving, walking, searching deeper and longer for that which eludes me.
What I search for is unattainable.
But what keeps me coming back is the Quest, for those moments where a picture lines up with my imagination.
It is a complete circle.
"To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield." -Tennyson