I’m often asked how I come up with ideas for photographic projects. It’s a tricky question since it’s hard to pinpoint where these thoughts originate, but I try my best when answering. Just like a river’s formation, these thoughts can begin as a trickle and after some course correction and merging of new information, something larger can be born.
In August of 2009, I decided to photograph the Delaware River in its entirety. Over the next couple of years (at least) I plan to travel by land, bike and boat from The Delaware’s beginning in New York, to its end where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. The project will involve capturing landmarks, towns and life along the river showing them through photographs, multimedia, blog posts, galleries and if I’m lucky, perhaps a book.
Being a photographer these days is challenging since so much has changed in regards to websites, video and online story telling. Part of being a storyteller is also learning about what’s being photographed and in this case, the topography of a river.
Topography is defined as a study of the Earth’s surface, shape and features, its definition can be broadened to include man-made features, history and culture. Topography can also be thought of as the study of place. But there’s so much more than maps and places names.
In The Power of Place, Winifred Gallagher writes about nature when describing human interaction along a section of the Upper Delaware River:
If it [nature] is to survive in all its complexity, an awful lot of people from very diverse groups must agree that nature is a mother lode of inner as well as material resources that in some way enriches everyone, from the Sierra Club elite to city slickers who never set foot in a park.
When discussing a river, I can’t think of a better set of words that describe how water has the potential to connect millions of people in unseen ways. So please enjoy what you find on this site, send me suggestions and critique or even join me on a trip and volunteer to write a guest blog post.
John Welsh, a Philadelphia area photographer, has been shooting professionally since 1987 and is active as a VP on the board of the ASMP Philadelphia Chapter. To see more of his work visit his website.