When I was in my twenties while living in Seattle I decided to spend some time hitchhiking across the country. I was mostly looking for places to hike backcountry, so I stayed on small roads hopping from park to BLM land back to park. Two things I realized quickly with hitchhiking was 1) only the kindest people in the world are the ones who are willing to give you a ride and 2) when travelling from town to town these kind souls also want to show you the best of their town. You often get the scenic tour, with personal anecdotes and complete histories of the area. I have since considered it the best way to travel.

Travelling for this project Few and Far Between is as close to that experience as I have gotten. Even though our time in each location has been brief, the collaborative nature of the project gives us the freedom to really focus on making connections with the people we meet. One that has stayed with me was in the first town of our most recent West trip.

We pulled into Chugwater, Wyoming late in the evening after driving from Denver. As we drove through town, I saw a house with a forest of sunflowers in the front yard. You could see it from blocks away; the abundance of yellow flowers as high as the house behind it brightened the town. I later learned that the home belonged to Marie Demosthenes and that she had homesteaded it as a part of an incentive program from the town to draw residents to Chugwater. Marie had moved to Wyoming from back east after inheriting some land in Wheatland. She parlayed this gift into the sunflower house, as it is known around Chugwater.

I dropped by seven or eight times before I was able to catch her at home. In fact I was so perseverant that when I introduced myself, she said that she was expecting me. Another benefit to rural life, her friends and neighbors mentioned to her that we were in town and that I wanted to make a portrait of her at her home. She said she was excited at the idea, that she had never had her portrait made. She was terribly proud of her sunflower garden. She said, “It is like sunshine in my yard everyday. They make me so happy.” Indeed, and her story and ebullience has stayed with me like a ray of sunlight since.

To see an edit of this project, visit the Few & Far Between gallery >>
To see how we are applying Few & Far Between to our clients need, visit the Case Study in our Commercial section>>
To view the West Travelogue, visit the LUCEO STORE >>
For more information on the project, visit More Than a Roadtrip on The New York Times Lens Blog >>
For past stories from this project, you can see posts by Matt Eich, David Walter Banks and Kendrick Brinson.

When I was in my twenties while living in Seattle I decided to spend some time hitchhiking across the country. I was mostly looking for places to hike backcountry, so I stayed on small roads hopping from park to BLM land back to park. Two things I realized quickly with hitchhiking was 1) only ...