Happy Accident

These photos were taken 6 days apart in two different cities (January 2 in Providence, and January 8 in New Haven, respectively). When I pulled the negatives out of the developing tank, I was amazed to see how closely the lines of the two photos echoed each another. 

© Joseph Gerhard. All rights reserved.

Cleaners Revisited

From motelrodeo March 25, 2007:

A less-iconic, more-complex framing from last month:

More Unmade Beds

While it looks like Mill River will see the light of day as a book before Unmade Beds—probably later this year—the bed project continues, and publishing the series in book form is still the plan.


I am just beginning a new round of shooting for Unmade Beds that will continue for the next six months, as I finalize the manuscript for Mill River.


These are from a recent shoot: Michelle.

Mill River

This series of photos of the Mill RIver has taken me completely by surprise. In the first place, these are not the kind of photographs I usually make. I don't think of myself as a landscape photographer, and I don't generally photograph the natural world. I've walked along this river for the past 20 years and although I've taken an occasional photograph there, it's never occurred to me to photograph it extensively.


During early morning walks I started to notice the way the river looked from the paths along its banks—the way that it always appeared in small fragments, framed by branches, leaves, rocks, mud. The river is so still and slow-moving that it exists almost as a negative presence—visible only in the reflections of trees, branches, sky. I am fascinated by the way the river is both integral to the scene and barely there at the same time. I am obsessed by it and haven't been able to stop making photos. Developing the images, seeing the negatives and prints for the first time, I've been almost hyperventilating with excitement.


The series has grown over the last couple of months to nearly 60 images. These are four recent ones.