Katie Edwards – Portrait of America

About

Edwards' fascination with photographing the world from this vantage started when she noticed the brightness of the train window in contrast to the darkness of the vestibule. Immediately captivated by this perspective, she took several more railway trips in the UK and Europe, before planning the mighty adventure across the USA with her father.

The journey traversed the country three times, taking them from New York to Chicago to LA to Seattle to Chicago to San Francisco. Her father often positioned himself further down the carriage as a spotter, to give a few seconds' warning via walkie-talkie of anything notable. Edwards writes, “I don’t know anyone else who would spend 180 hours on a train with me. And, my father is in a wheelchair, so small Amtrak carriages are not easy for him, and yet he didn’t complain once. My father, the true hero of this story. I am so lucky to have shared this with him and his scientific, poetic mind.”

Each photograph captures a unique glimpse of this diverse country; from the urban landscapes of the Eastern cities, to the red rock faces of the Southern deserts; and from the snow-capped peaks of the Cascade Volcanoes, to the dusty cattle of the Midwestern plains: "I was able to see for hundreds of miles on either side of the train, and this created bizarre effects with the light as it hit specific strips of land in the expanse."

The setting of the train carriage conjured surprises and challenges, for example, Edwards explains, "Sometimes I wouldn’t even know what I’d snapped - especially in the foreground - and the fun was in the editing. That’s where I’d notice a bird in flight, or the names of the dead in a silent graveyard." 

She noted: “It was as if I had gone through the artistic periods of my life at super speed, hastened by the train,” and found that her brain began to form categories from the images: "cows, perpendicular roads, lonely things, industry, mountains, vanishing points, rivers and of course moonies" and people: "the rafters, the marchers, the surfers, the lovers and the farmers."

Edwards was also physically and mentally impacted by the intensity of the project. She explains, "As soon as I closed my eyes, I would have an endless livestream of train window scenes. Even when my eyes were open, I had a permanent train window filter over my vision."

The enormity of the trip had a profound effect on her. She concludes: "I thought of the train as a sort of mobile chronotope, providing a continuous thread through which diverse places and moments were interconnected. Each photograph taken from the train window would be a fragment of a larger narrative, where the journey itself became a storyline that traversed different geographical and cultural landscapes. Moreover, the compression of space into a confined train window frame, juxtaposed with the slow, unfolding nature of a train journey, was allowing me to experience and document the nation in a way that captured both the immediacy of the present and the continuity of travel over time."

"The train window had served as the ultimate guide through something that initially seemed unimaginably massive."

As the train cut a line through space and time, Edwards captured a portrait of America.

About Katie Edwards

Katie Edwards is an emerging photographer with a global portfolio. Her work spans from documenting the traditional transgender community in Fiji, to reformed terrorists in Indonesia, to the backstage world of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Her images and stories are regularly featured by publications such as The Guardian and the BBC.