Traditions, customs, folk stories, and legends serve as the foundation for identity and as a glue that binds a society together, but what happens when there is a sea change in the national landscape? How do these historical foundations hold up? How do newer generations pay reverence to their past while embracing a new path and its promised freedoms? What is the friction between the new and the old, and can they work together?

To ponder these questions in photographs may seem to be an impossible task, but images can allude to much more outside of the reality they depict. By combining visual references to Romanian fairy tales, turn-of-the-century embroidery patterns, and scenes from a remote fishing village turned nontraditional tourist destination, I tried to capture the feeling of the first generation of Romanians who do not have personal experience of what it was like to live under the rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s Communist state, but still carry the rich traditions and history of their country by birthright.

It is within this framework that I present the idea of freedom and youth tethered to history, all in the style of a modern-day fairy tale filled with beauty, magic, myth, and mystery.

Photographed over 3 years in Vama Veche, Romania, Old Customs is the third of four books I am publishing in 2020. This first edition has 46 full color photographs and a unique design featuring a printed translucent book jacket. Subsequent editions will not include the book jacket. All books purchased online are hand-numbered and signed.

Release Date September 15, 2020

Details
Book Size: 5.5” x 8.5”
80 pages, cover, and translucent book jacket
Cover: 130lb Finch Fine iD Bright White Smooth
Inside Pages: 100lb Finch Fine Bright White Smooth
Perfect Bind
Limited Edition of 150

Sample Spreads