Parker Reinecker is a Documentary/Street Photographer currently based out of Atlanta Georgia. He is currently working in Northern Georgia, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the American Southwest. Growing up in coal country, Scranton Pennsylvania, with a bar and a church on every corner, his work touches on the experience and struggle of growing up in the blue-collar United States. Drawing inspiration from his own struggles with personal identity, crime and homelessness which can be receptive within the compositions of light and shadow, he documents the broken landscape of “Small Town America” and the conflict of poverty and beliefs, values and traditions, hope within the broken dreams and some touches of humor within it all.
Running from the Sun
Running from the Sun is a personal project focused on small towns along Route 66 in New Mexico. New Mexico is one of the poorest states in the country; with the development of Interstate 40, the loss of tourism along Route 66, the story of “The Mother Road” is a prime analogy of small-town life across the United States. Route 66 is commonly perceived to travel East to West with the nostalgia of chasing a dream to the West coast. The constant state of rush and hurry we live in and the loss of the idea of the “destination being the journey” the towns along the historic road have suffered. The heavy use of highlights and shadows in the images also work to portray this concept of trials and tribulations growing up in a lower working or non-working-class environment as well as the personal struggle growing up in small-town America.
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There is a place that seems so far from here. A place where the sand, the dirt, the rock and the sky live in harmony. Where the sun beats down on the man formed brick and asphalt of the journey to the west. It washes away the dark of the night before, and leaves the walls and the road worn like an old, well worked, pair of blue jeans. I have sentiment in a place like this. No roots, just seeds. No money, just seeds. No agenda, just seeds. A lifeline, a vein runs through me, it’s been pumping and carrying blood for almost a century. This place has the heart of an eagle. That heart often overlooked by the sight of the crows. You have to believe in a place like this. Its survived by a long lineage of stories and heartbreak. For every love letter carried. The road got a crack. With every drop of sweat, every tear, every war whoop…the road got a crack. You can’t mix mortar without sand. You can’t have sand without the stones. The wooden crosses all connected still don’t compare to getting the wood for the fire. There is a solace in all of this. A bigger piece to the puzzle. This history, this land, this cut on my thumb and the dirt on my calluses. I was running from the sun.
To view more of Parker’s work please visit his website.