Sometimes it feels like the romance of the road is lost at truck stops. Those oases of diesel fuel and stale coffee seem too industrial, too pragmatic to fit into a Kerouac-style vision of road tripping. Photographer Michael Massaia lends some highbrow class to the truck stop with his series Seeing the Black Dog. Suddenly, those hulking 18-wheelers look gorgeous.
Inspired by his own insomnia, Massaia photographs trucks parked for the night at highway rest stops across New Jersey, their drivers asleep in their bunks. His process is 100% do-it-yourself, shooting on large-format film which he develops by hand. Named after the phantom black dogs truckers hallucinate once sleep deprivation sets in, this series captures the stark, haunting stillness of road warriors at rest. Check out the whole collection here. [Wired]
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Images by Michael Massaia