Gladstone published his first book from the project, “Passing Gas and Other Towns Along the American Highway,” in 2003. He published his second, “Reaching Climax and Other Towns Along the American Highway,” in 2006.
Although he spent a lot of his own money to make the books a reality, Gladstone says it’s all been worth it and he’s learned a lot along the way.
“I started to do this, initially, as a cynical pain-in-the-ass New Yorker,” said Gladstone, 71. “I looked at the country as something to make fun of. I was going to go out and shoot pictures of funny people in funny towns and make fun of them.
“But it got all turned around. … I learned a lot about these folks, and I liked them and they liked me. It wasn’t a satire anymore. We have amazing people in this country. … Nobody anywhere turned out to be anything but pleasurable, fun and interesting people.”
Gladstone, who also is a writer, said he is interested in working on similar books and looks forward to continuing to shoot things that make him happy.
“I encourage everyone to buy a vacation to do what they want to do,” he said. “When you shoot what you love, it has a special quality about it. It shines a little brighter.”
On the following pages are photographs are from Gary Gladstone’s books “Passing Gas and Other Town Along the American Highway” and “Reaching Climax and Other Towns Along the American Highway.”
The accompanying text is excerpted from those books.