Artist David Skernick is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of these images. From the ‘ Back Roads’ series. To see David’s body of work, click on any photograph.

Artist Statement

Lost on gray roads. The hidden highways, the tributaries off the main thoroughfares, the passages that lead to perhaps a dead-end, or a roundabout way less traveled. These gray roads offer the true grit of my photographic journey, they offer more than just creating art. They are riches waiting to be gathered and shared.

Truly, I’m just a big kid who can’t sit still for long at home. My truck (Bob)—a destination-bumper-sticker- laden Ford 150 with over 150,000 miles (this is iteration number 4, Bob 3 retired at 300,0000 miles) serves as my home away from home.

Bob and I hunt and gather—we show our patriotism by driving to what I call The Territories, or simply “America”. The treasures we usually find around the next curve or if we come upon a breath-taking vista over the next hill are what this exquisite journey is all about. It is about sitting with Bob until the light is just right to capture a find I might never see again. It is about choosing my angle, lens, f/stop, shutter speed, and ISO carefully because I am a discerning collector. What I see through the viewfinder must match what I see without the camera in hand. I can define the perimeter specifically in each case. I count on the precision that photographic equipment affords me.

When I began taking photographs so many years ago, I used film, a darkroom, and cameras that most digital cameras of today emulate. I shot a lot of black & white, people—I used to go to New York and get swallowed in the plethora of human diversity—and I used the camera as an emotional release, it was always within reach. It was my way of stopping time.

Today, I am still a kid in a candy store but with a much clearer focus on what I like to shoot and why. My work is not necessarily about creating art. It is more about collecting the trinkets of mankind and sharing them with the people I love. It is more about coming home to my wife and saying, “Look what I found!”

Lost on gray roads. The hidden highways.

All images and text © David Skernick