John Edwards is an American photographer who works mainly with film. Over the past seven years, he has been photographing the inhabitants of islands off the coast of Maine. While surviving under harsh economics or the isolation of island living, these people remain tenacious and dignified as they live their simple lives. In his pictures, Edward strives to capture the relationship these locals have with the natural beauty of their isolated environment.
Edwards’s photographs celebrate the places where the human spirit still connects to the natural world. They also demonstrate how far society has come from the symbiotic relationships between human communities and natural living conditions. The people who still live this organic lifestyle are becoming fewer and fewer, and one day there might no longer be communities like this. Edwards’s documentation of the people living this lifestyle is so important because it not only preserves this time for future generations to reflect upon, but it displays the possibility of an alternative way of living. If these images are able to reach a broader public, it might inspire younger generations to continue the tradition of this lifestyle, further preserving this simple way of life.
John Edwards, Mug - Up, Mammouth, Maine
2006
John Edwards, Tying Off
2005
John Edwards, Tea Before the Storm
2007