Picture Show: At the Truck Stop

Before creating his quietly intimate series “Truck Drivers,” the photographer Jon Bakos hadn’t spent a lot of time in truck stops. Of course, that might not make him all that unique, as truck-driving tends to be an insular culture, one that affords its practitioners all sorts of solitude. While ground shipping is indeed a cornerstone of American industry, it’s a slice of life that, for many of us, is witnessed only in the passing periphery of highway travel.

“These people kind of take road trips as a job,” says Bakos, “but it’s lonely. I was interested in seeing them at the truck stop, where they were at a break from the constant go and go of their work.” To do that, Bakos posted up a relatively small truck stop (consisting of about 100 spots) in New Hampshire, about an hour north of Boston, where he spent his time eating in the adjoining restaurant and hanging out by the fuel pumps. What he found was a group of people who welcomed the opportunity to have their stories told, people whose pictures convey the peace of mind that comes from a solitary, and demanding, life in transit.

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