Martin Bailkey

There hasn’t been much separation between “travelling” and “not travelling” in my life.  Travel is – like reading and listening to music – something I do naturally.  And occasionally I have a camera with me. During our Second Year at Tulane, I took a half-credit photography workshop.  I snapped a couple of pictures that my instructor said had a bit of merit, and briefly I thought of trying photography instead of architecture.  That thought was quickly set aside. 

Later though, as I travelled across the country for work, I shot hundreds and hundreds of slides in connection with professional responsibilities – first, examples of architecture and landscape details to teach students, later slides of urban farms and urban farming practices. 

 In the midst of all that picture-taking, without thinking much about it, I photographed other things that caught my eye – sometimes sneakily, as with Beth and Jerry’s front room in Chicago.  I found that photographic subjects found me, in clear and mostly unexpected moments. These pictures, for the most part, were done over the three years of my retirement, and taken while travelling.  I’m very pleased to show them to you.