Through a collaboration of timing, events and just the way life is, Charlie decided to take a break from mainstream press photography in September 2000 to pursue a life long ambition to drive the lower 48 states of America.
Driving a battered Ford Mustang convertible and avoiding the major Interstates, Charlie documented America and Americans from North to South and sea to shining sea. Taking every back road possible, he strove to document life in America at the start of the new millennium. Real life, not 'reality TV' life is what he sought.
Shooting all black and white film, Charlie lived from his car, staying with friends where possible, accepting the kind generosity of strangers who opened their doors and their hearts to him, along with many cheap and often nasty roadside motels and his tent in case of emergency or simply because he found himself in a great place to set up camp.
'The road is often full of surprises, sometimes good, sometimes bad. The car leaked when it rained or snowed. The A/C did not work and whilst driving across the Midwest in the summer of 2002 the temperature in the cockpit hit 130 degrees Fahrenheit. It is hard to judge the road,' said Charlie. 'At times it could be a very long and winding road indeed. Sometimes it was the most excruciatingly lonely place to be. The things you think are right are wrong, left can become right and nothing is ever as it seems and don't ever fall in love on the road! For the most part, this is an incredible country, full of incredible people and the most incredible experiences.'
Just over three years later, at the end of November 2003 Charlie and the now very battered 'Mustang Sally' ('the most impractical car in which to undertake such an adventure') pulled back into his friend's parking lot in Miami from where the journey had started a mere 42,000 miles earlier. 'Incredibly she made it!' he said.
Having fallen in love on the road, something he suggested it might be best to avoid yet spectacularly failed to do, he currently resides in New Orleans with Michelle and two cats. From his shed at the bottom of the garden he must edit, scan and print the best images from over 14,000 individual negatives as he struggles to find the time and the funds required to put three books together.
'Many thanks to all those kind hearted folk who contributed cash and kind to my road trip funds, both large and small donations. I can not thank enough all the generous, selfless people who opened their doors and their hearts and took in a complete stranger, offering up food, clothing, hospitality, great suggestions and comfortable beds for the night, or indeed many nights. Many thanks to all the people who permitted me the enormous privilege of just a glimpse into what makes America the great country she is today. I care not what one might think of this or any Administration, the generosity, the hearts and minds of the thousands of people I met are in the right place. Thank you all so much, God bless, you know who you are.'
Special thanks also to my mother, my sister and friends who endure such prolonged periods of my absence yet continue to provide help and support in all that I try to do. Special thanks also to Shep, my editor, who over the course of three months last year voluntarily edited thousands of images. Thank you for helping me to see the wood through the trees.
Without you all this would not have been possible. Thank you so very much.' - Charlie Varley.
