Raymond Adams AMERICA : WITNESSED

Go + See

Raymond Adams
AMERICA : WITNESSED
photographs by Raymond Adams
essay by Duane Michals

Patriot
New York, New York 12 September 2001 

One never knows what to expect from day to day, so today when I received a call from Ray Adams I was surprised that he found me talkative and revealing. Part of the conversation had to do with the idea of uncertainty. Part of the conversation was about his book America : Witnessed and the unending quest to identify and understand what American is. At one point it seemed so fixed. I feel it will always be more fluid now. That there will be more young people taking there cameras on a trip to answer that question on the great American road trip, It is part of our being to hit the road to see. Looking at a pdf of America :Witnessed, I found myself not wanting to reduce the 47 images down to 5 or 8 .

Is American the cities, the land or its' many people or is it just an illusive dream that inspires ? As I grow older I feel it may be just an illusive dream,that is why I chose this image Patriot ,you may read into this image whatever you want.

America : Witnessed also represents another aspect of the American idea it will be published with the help of many people through Kickstarter ,maybe you would like to participate too .I am adding a link at the end of this post, but before I do here are some of Ray's thoughts about this project

" What is the American Dream? Is it a big house, and a fast car? Is it a right to free speech? Or is it my right to defend myself? Am I constitutionally guaranteed access to a cheap gallon of gasoline? Or am I guaranteed clean drinking water?

These photographs are an effort at tying an anchor to my own notions of these ideas, as they are continually being dragged by the current of time. From what I can tell, I don’t think anything can definitively define the American Dream, and I believe that’s the reason it continues to breathe."

This is what I’ve seen. 

Raymond Adams 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1049083645/america-witnessed

www.raymondadams.net