It wasn’t supposed to take that long. What should have been a 7-hour drive from Raleigh, North Carolina to South Williamson, Kentucky (roughly 350 miles), turned into a 39-hour adventure that included getting the last available hotel room in Hillsville, Virginia one night and sleeping in the car the following night in a Ruby Tuesday’s parking lot in Beckley, West Virginia. I planned on getting into Kentucky late Friday night, December 18, and shooting Saturday through early Wednesday, then heading back in time to be home for Christmas Eve. By the time I arrived, plans had been changed and the priority became finding a place to stay that had electricity. Thousands were without power, including my dad, with whom I planned to stay. After such an ordeal getting there, staying somewhere without power was out of the question. My cousin Shawna and her husband, Richie, were incredibly generous and opened their doors to me for all three nights of my stay.

This trip was supposed to be the first of many over the next year to take a closer at coal; the people who depend on it for jobs, the process in which it’s mined, and the impact it has on the environment, specifically to Appalachia. I found it ironic that the very place that produces so much of America’s coal was widely without electricity. Still, I was able to get some work done, meet some incredible people, and make a few images. And the drive home didn’t take nearly as long as the drive there.

There’s much more to come on this project and I hope the new year opens many doors. Thanks for stopping by.