I remember a phone call I made for directions once not long after we moved to Western North Carolina, to a man who builds rocking chairs by hand, as did his fathers and uncles before him going back eight generations. His directions went something like this: “…take a right at the Primitive Baptist Church, then cross the bridge at Daley’s Branch, then you’ll pass the Holiness Church on your left, then the Methodists, and after you cross the Broad River, you’ll see my shop on the right.” This long-timer expressed his knowledge of home and community even while giving directions. Many of us today long for a “sense of place” - the feeling of orientation that comes from community. Photographing the human landscape I pass through daily is one of the ways I make that connection to the place I live. I like to photograph houses and neighborhoods, well-worn commercial districts, and quirky ex-urban areas. The place I am trying to find in my travels has, I’ve decided, much to do with photography itself, but also something to do with a yearning to find a meaningful place to be, and looking for hints to that direction within the landscape I’m traveling through.