Travelling is one of lifes pleasures. Or is it one of lifes needs? Hominids since the day of standing upright seem to have needed to travel. To find new things.
The spirit of adventure isn’t a desire as much as an instinct.
The American road trip is on many bucket lists. The freedom of the road, wide open spaces, crazy adventures.
The basis of the American road trip may be deep in the history of the freedom of a new country of exploration and opportunity. With public ownership of automobiles the road trip became embedded in the culture, literature, film and photography.
On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957) may be the obvious book but Steinbeck’s – Travels with Charley published only 4 years later (1961) is a roadtrip purely to find America.
Musical inspiration predates with the tune Route 66 originally written and recorded 1946 but reappearing throughout the emergence of Rock n Roll. Movies were behind the curve but Easy Rider (1969) and Vanishing Point (1971) being great examples of the genre.
Alongside this photography not only reflected the grand landscapes (e.g. Ansel Adams) but started to look at American life and people.
Colour photography was increasingly available. Saul Leiter was photographing the everyday in New York in the 50s and 60s. William Egglestone in Memphis in the 60s.
Robert Frank was instrumental in documenting the road trip in the mid 1950s and his work the Americans (1958) set out to capture the country through its people in a natural non journalistic manner.
Gritty and grainy and a contrast to the glamour of Hollywood and “picture-perfect” suburbia it received a controversial reception, particularly as Frank was a 1st generation immigrant. Described by Photography magazine as “general sloppiness” by “a joyless man who hates the country”.
Kerouac and Frank met in 1957 soon after the publication of On the Road and in 1958 Frank travelled with Kerouac to Florida photographing the journey.
Kerouac wrote the introduction to The Americans. In it he hails Frank as a great artist and perhaps setting the scene for many photographers of road trips of the future the line “after seeing these pictures you will end up finally not knowing any more whether s jukebox is sadder than a coffin” … “In 48 states he captured the humour, the sadness, The EVERYTHINGness”.
The following photographs are inspired by the Road trip myth.
Nick Inston 