URBAN MALAISE

Malaise, which ultimately traces back to Old French, has been part of English since the mid-18th century. One of its most notable uses came in 1979. President Jimmy Carter never actually used the word in his July 15 televised address, but it became known as the malaise speech all the same. In the speech, Carter described the United States as a nation facing a crisis of confidence and rife with paralysis and stagnation and drift. He spoke of a national malaise a few days later. This portfolio also includes images made for a few other related series: INTERSECTIONS, TREES, WINTER LIGHT, and SPORTS AND LEISURE. These all fit a topographical or documentary, quasi-journalistic approach I used from about 2020 through 2021 as I was getting my footing again after becoming reborn in photography after being dead to it after a few decades. This approach served me well to regain a sense of composition and technical skills, and I now take a less direct, more immersive approach that is less about the thing being photographed and more about photography taking pictures of photography.