Joseph Vavak 11/9/09 Joseph Vavak 11/9/09

John Vachon

"Omaha looked swell this morning out the train window," wrote John Vachon. "Very unspectacular, and ordinary looking, but definitely camera-challenging.

John Vachon wasn't from Nebraska, but he extensively photographed Omaha and Nebraska for the Farm Security Administration in late 1938. There are quite a few (sadly low quality) images of Nebraska available here on the Library Of Congress website.

The always excellent Shorpy has quite a few high resolution images by Vachon here.

Joseph Vavak 11/7/09 Joseph Vavak 11/7/09

Image: Instance #2

Just a small taste of something new that I've begun working on over the last few weeks. The process shows a lot of promise, I think.

The series will be titled An Instance. Merriam-Webster defines instance as "a step, stage, or situation viewed as part of a process or series of events," and that's pretty much exactly what these photographs represent. A moment (or step) in time that's defined by a process and its somewhat unpredictable results.

I'll let you use your imagination as to how this was accomplished. In actuality, it's really quite simple.

Joseph Vavak 11/1/09 Joseph Vavak 11/1/09