Jacob Perry.
Words by Sam Rakestraw
Jacob Perry moved to Chicago two years ago. Since wandering around Logan Park for shots, the city itself has functioned as Perry’s studio. Perry has shot mostly portraits but exploring and seeing all the urban cracks and crevices have caused his photography to take more of a casual street approach. Perry steers away from shots that people have seen thousands of times, like the skyline of a city. Instead, Perry focuses on the not too far off obscurities of some most prominent places in the country.
In his “Southwest” series—Perry simply explores. He shows no destination but the journey. These pictures were taken by Perry while on a road trip from Salt Lake City to San Francisco. You won’t find any shots of the Golden Gate Bridge or the city of Salt Lake. “The Southwest is a landmark flushed area that could be seen linearly,” says Perry, “I try to break free of the linear view and see it from a different light.”
Instead of seeing the Southwestern states as a parade of photo spots and monuments with crowds, Perry shows it for what it really is. A wide-open land that dwarfs people. Some of these pictures include landscape shots of canyons, mountains, and roads with one human subject. They can be seen navigating or pushing their way through the gorges and alpines. Some scenes lack anyone at all, but still has the essence of the Southwest and life.
