Slideshow

Slide Show: Arthur Hitchcock's Walk Across America

March 25, 2014

Blurred road sign in Northern Wyoming on Interstate 80. My lens was broken and filled with sand for a portion of the trip, forcing me to shoot these dreamlike landscapes. I find the look to be an appropriate representation of my experience walking throug

The clouds over the desert near Lovelock, NV

Sun-bleached and withered carcass of a deer found in Northern Nevada. Dehydration and lack of shade drove me to hallucination, and during my almost near death experience, I spotted that deer. It was almost a reflection of my inner thoughts and worries at

Journal: "Day No. 75, 96°F, Interstate 80, Northern Nevada between Lovelock and Bottle Mountain. Today was the first day in which I truly thought I was going to die..."

My pack outside Elko, NV

Self portrait in the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. In a moment of rest and reflection, I decided to turn the camera around and hang it from a rusty mileage marker sign.

Car in motion on Interstate 80. This was my daily home for most of the trip. I often took refuge under these underpasses, as they provided shelter from the sun and weather.

Winterset, Iowa. The town square courthouse was under construction. My entire family on my dad's side is from/lives here. It’s the birthplace of John Wayne.

Another surreal/dream-like landscape. A Sunset in the Sandhills of Nebraska, near the small town of Sutherland. There is a large gap in cell phone coverage with any provider, as there is nothing but sand and grass. I stayed with a woman who grew up in th

A young girl in Chicago, Illinois, shows off her juggling skills. I volunteered with my couch surfing host's nonprofit while staying with her in North Chicago. It is called Circ-Esteem. It’s an inner city program teaching circus skills to youth and seeki

I reach the Atlantic Ocean after five months of walking. I end up in Coney Island, surrounded by Hasidic families on holiday.

Photography by Ira Lippke

Older man with holographic glasses at Occupy Wall Street in New York.

A diner in New London, Connecticut

Tree in fall, on the grounds of Norwich State Hospital, near Preston, Connecticut. Anthony (my best friend/support vehicle driver) and I "gained entry" into the guarded grounds of this mental hospital. The hospital was founded in 1809 and housed the crim

The kitchen at Occupy Providence in Rhode Island

The word preternatural was created for people like Arthur Hitchcock. He lost his father, a photographer, at age 2. His mother died of breast cancer when he was 19. His approach to a grief beyond measure: to walk across the United States to raise awareness for breast cancer. Setting off from Long Beach, California, he started up Highway 1 and then cut east, walking across 17 states to end in Augusta, Maine. The journey of 4100 miles over deserts, mountains, and plains took him 175 days (his longest day was 62 miles). Read the story.

Photography

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Portland Monthly

Slide Show: Arthur Hitchcock's Walk Across America

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