By the following summer, Gladstone was ready to go out and make more pictures of things he simply liked. The only problem was he didn’t know what he wanted to shoot.
That’s when Gladstone’s secretary suggested that he make a list of things he loves. The list included things like chocolate, shrimp cocktail, airports and, of course, humor.
“I collect comedy like some people like to go to the opera or the theater,” Gladstone said. “It doesn’t matter how low-grade.”
With that in mind, Gladstone and his secretary began thinking of things he could shoot that would incorporate his sense of humor and his love for shooting portraits. They looked up humorous names of towns across the country – Climax, Minn.; Gas, Kan.; Prettyboy, Md.; Toast, N.C.; and Intercourse, Ala..
“There were a lot of towns that had funny names and I thought, ‘Who in the world would live there?'” Gladstone said. “The fact that we were laughing was the signal” that it would be a good project.
“Passing Gas” & “Reaching Climax”
Gladstone, of Carmel, N.Y., set out to take portraits of what he assumed would be simple-minded country folk to illustrate the towns’ goofy names. He started the project by setting up week-long trips, during which he traveled to small, rural towns with names like Gas, Intercourse and Goofy Ridge.