Interview Bryan Schutmaat: Vessels (BredaPhoto)

Project Overview

Bryan Schutmaat describes a BredaPhoto-commissioned project about how people and communities sustain themselves when government support is withdrawn. He photographed hitchhikers, drifters, and others living along U.S. highways, focusing on the southwestern desert.

The stark, desolate landscape gives the work a near-biblical atmosphere and frames a broader tension between human life and the natural world.

Schutmaat says the photographs reflect both his own fears and anxieties and a wider sense of collective anxiety. A photographer’s perspective, he notes, is inevitably present in the images. He hopes that spending time with people often avoided by others can encourage empathy, kindness, and a closer understanding of their lives.

Artistic Choices and Process

• Schutmaat chose the desert highway landscape as a setting for the project’s themes.
• To convey the heat and atmosphere of the Southwest, he photographed in midday light, despite usually preferring the softer light at the beginning or end of the day.
• He worked in black and white because it rendered the hard shadows effectively and avoided the blue skies of color photography.
• He connects the emotional extremes in the work to Robert Frank’s description of black and white as “hope and despair.”
• During one encounter, a woman’s red blanket caught his attention. After stopping to speak with her, he made portraits that held both her sadness and her hope about where she was going.

Creators and Contributors

• Bryan Schutmaat — Photographer and interview subject
• Robert Frank — Cited for his reflection on black-and-white photography
• BredaPhoto — Organization that commissioned the project