Contact Sheet (click to enlarge)

RANDALL SELLERS

I actually moved out of Philadelphia last August, to a village in the Pocono Mountains. But my girlfriend still lives in Philly so I return for occasional weekend visits. I scheduled one of these weekends (one day, really) to do the 12x36 photo shoot. It's been interesting to contrast the life and people of my new small town with everything I used to take for granted about Philly, after living there for about sixteen years. Now when I roll into Philly, I find myself marveling at the skyline and the people everywhere. I feel like a tourist. Shooting the 12x36 pics was weird since I'm not a photographer and have not shot a roll of actual film in about fifteen years. I just set out and looked for people and spaces to shoot and wanted it to be effortless and organic. Since moving to the smaller rural town, where everyone is pretty white, I'd been missing Philly's "blackness" and ethnic mélange. This is what Philly means to me these days. So I was most interested in capturing this in the photos during my afternoon walkabout. Kids playing football somewhere around 52nd and Chester, women waiting for the bus in Center City...  

Selected Prints (click to enlarge):