When Frank and Tracy told me they were off on an uncompromising journey across the east coast of America as bona fide, load-carrying truck drivers, I expected the images they'd produce to be full of cool, grizzly looking characters all road-weary from the burden of being Americas modern day frontiersmen.
What I didn't expect were the breathtaking portraits and documentry images which are gradually emerging as a result.
The couple spent what amounts to a full year on the road; them and their huge eighteen-wheel truck.
Living out of the truck, they gave up their home in the Jersey green belt - showering at truck stops, sleeping in the cab, taking pictures of what they saw and some of the people they encountered.
Truck culture comes to dominate their lives; they inhabit a world totally alien to our own.
Partly, the strength of these images comes from a unique empathy; they see what truckers see because they are truckers. Ferrying loads from port to depot and wherever their cargo dictates, missing many of the comforts most of us take for granted...
...and living a routine which is unforgiving, relentless and often dangerous. It's a level of personal risk and sacrifice fewer and fewer artists are willing to make these days.
With Hurry Up & Wait, what we come away with is a number of powerful and contrasting narratives; from beauty and iconic splendour to pathos and vulnerability...in short, an epic and also intimate vision of modern America.
Looking at these images, what I realise is that the real heroes in this story are the photographers behind them.
Hurry Up & Wait: Tribble Mancenido
www.tribblemancenido.com
