Copious amounts of candy were tossed to the children lining Main Street in Thurmont, Maryland during their annual Fireman’s Carnival Parade. After photographing many small-town parades, I started to notice a dichotomy in American parade tradition: candy town or not a candy town. Some communities go big on the candy tossing festivities and others discourage it due to the clean-up involved. Thurmont is definitely a candy parade town! Part of my on-going project “America’s Homecoming.” #Americashomecoming #Maryland #Thurmont #FiremansCarnival
Each night of the Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show, a three-day event in Boonville, California, ended with a dance in the rodeo arena. Started in 1924, the fair has remained an old-time harvest festival and a celebration of the agriculture of the Anderson Valley. I documented the fair as part of my on-going project “America’s Homecoming.” #Americashomecoming #California #MendocinoCounty #Boonville
The “Mud Volleyball” tournament at the Eureka County Fair. I spent some time last year in Eureka, Nevada, which bills itself as “The Friendliest Town on the Loneliest Highway.” The town definitely did not disappoint and very much lived up to its moniker! Eureka County, an area of 4,180 square miles, had only 1,855 inhabitants at the time of the last census. Photographing this county fair and meeting so many wonderful people in town was definitely one of the highlights of my on-going project “America’s Homecoming.” More to come in 2023. #AmericasHomecoming #EurekaNevada #LoneliestHighway #Nevada #Route50 #CountyFair 
Merry Christmas from San Francisco! On a row this morning to the Golden Gate Bridge, a seal decided to follow us all along Crissy Field. On the way back, the seal decided to get closer and really wanted to inspect my oars. As adorable and special as these encounters are, it is incredibly important not to disturb marine mammals, even when they are actively playing with you. I try my best to move along slowly and carefully and not to engage too much while these curious creatures do their exploring of us. @dolphinclubsf
Honored that this photograph from Juneteenth celebrations in Gettysburg, from my on-going series “America’s Homecoming,” was included in the 2022 Women Photograph Year in Pictures, curated by @endiabeal , alongside the work of so many wonderful friends and colleagues. Thank you to @dzalcman and the Women Photograph organization for all that they do to support us! The Women Photograph Annual is now available for pre-order, the proceeds of which, go to support the organization’s work. Image caption: Chaundre Franklin (center), Miss Gettysburg Juneteenth 2022, and other participants in the Gettysburg Juneteenth Parade pause on the steps of the St Paul A.M.E. Zion Church in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Instead of a traditional parade, the organizers created an event where parade participants stopped at sites along the route that are historically important to Gettysburg’s Black community. At each site, speakers would describe the historical significance of the place. A.M.E. Zion is the oldest congregation of Black community members in Gettysburg and dates to 1838.
Survivors of wildfire, especially those who remain in the area and live in the burn scar, often struggle with the psychological effects of being constantly confronted by reminders of such a traumatic event. A new program at Chico State is using forest therapy, which draws on the Japanese practice of forest bathing, to help wildfire survivors heal their trauma. On assignment for @washingtonpost Sarah Kaplan and I travelled to Butte County to meet with survivors of the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest fire in California history, and observe them participating in the forest therapy program. Thank you to all the wonderful people we met for sharing their stories and for @akvoisard for sending me on this one.
Dublin, a suburban city of the San Francisco Bay Area, holds an annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in honor of their shared name with the capital of Ireland. The parade was back in full swing in 2022 after years of pandemic cancellations. When the parade wrapped up at a shopping center, I found these members of the Young American Patriots Fife and Drum Corps, a colonial-era youth band, winding down their performance in the Target parking lot. #Americashomecoming #Dublin #StPatricksDay #Parade #California
Among the participants of the annual Thurmont Fireman’s Carnival Parade was a rigging truck from a local company. It was driven down Main Street of Thurmont, Maryland, as employees tossed candy to kids in the crowds. Fireman’s carnivals are a feature of the summer social calendar in rural communities that depend on a volunteer fire fighting force. The carnivals are often the main fundraiser for these departments allowing them to buy fire trucks and other equipment. #Americashomecoming #Thurmont #Maryland #firemanscarnival 
Mark Twain’s first national success as a writer came with “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” The legend goes that during a 1865 storm in Angels Camp, California, Twain was waiting out the inclement weather at the Angels Hotel saloon when the bartender entertained his captive audience with the tale of a local man’s jumping frog. From that account, Twain spun out his celebrated short story. Decades later, in 1928, as the town looked for a way to celebrate the paving of its roads, the frog jump competition was started. It’s now one of Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee’s staple events. Every year, frog “jockeys” train their frogs for their chance at glory. The frogs get three jumps and the frog that lands the farthest from the launch pad on the day of the finals wins the competition. #Americashomecoming #CalavarasCounty #frogjump #California #MarkTwain
#visapourlimage2022: Don't miss the first evening screening tonight. Kicking off at 9:30 pm at Campo Santo, tonight's show will feature a chronological news review from September to October 2021. Laura Morton's work "Drive-In Nation" will be one of the reports highlighted tonight. With the Covid-19 pandemic making social distancing necessary, historic drive-ins saw new customers who viewed them as a safe way to get outside the house and have a shared experience with others while still inside their own bubble. There are still around 325 permanent drive-ins still in operation in the United States, down from a high of about 4,000 in the late-1950s. The Family Drive-In, a two-screen theater, opened in 1956. More information on the schedule will be available via the website. Photo © Laura Morton (@laurakmorton ). Taylor Robinson (left) and Mason Feathers watch the first evening movie at the Family Drive-In Theatre in Stephens City, Virginia, USA, on Friday, August 21, 2020. #visapourlimage #photography #photographie #photojournalism #photojournalisme
The Fremont Strawberry Festival Parade in Mount Pleasant Mills, Pennsylvania. I had a good laugh telling Stella, pictured here leading her horse, that her daughter was living my literal childhood dream, which anyone who knew me as a kid could attest: riding her horse through town with her chihuahua by her side. This photo is from a new project, “America’s Homecoming,” I began last summer, documenting the ways that, all across the country, communities celebrate their shared histories and customs with annual, traditional events. At a time of political division and pandemic isolation, I wanted to photograph how Americans were coming together to celebrate community with their neighbors. These events – the county fair, the fireman’s carnival, the annual parade – rarely make the national news, but they are important to the fabric of life in small towns across the country. #Americashomecoming #FremontStrawberryFestival #Pennsylvania #horse #chihuahua
“Nothing else in the world smells like this. It smells like America!” a woman turned to me and exclaimed during the Demolition Derby on the final night of the Calaveras County Fair & Jumping Frog Jubilee in Angels Camp, California this May. The mix of crushed metal, mud, exhaust fumes, gasoline and transmission fluid does indeed make for a very specific olfactory experience. A 16-year-old high school sophomore Troy Dragomanovich (slide 3) was the big winner of the night. This photo is from a new project, “America’s Homecoming,” I began last summer, documenting the ways that, all across the country, communities celebrate their shared histories and customs with annual, traditional events. #Americashomecoming #CalavarasCounty #destructionderby #California