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Table of Contents

Interview with Cristina Garlesteanu

Over the Road

Teleport

Diary of a Pandemic

Making Street Portraits

Street Shooters of March 2021

Over the Road

Michael Ruggiero

At seven years old, my parents drove us across the country from Pennsylvania to California along the fabled Route 66. State after state and mile after mile I was fascinated by the scenes whizzing past the car window. I could feel the shifting of the car as we overtook giant trucks, marveled at the Main Streets of small towns, encountered strange people to my young eyes and stared out into the vast empty landscapes. Thirty-two years later in 1990, I began to photograph the interstate highways of America.

Along the way, I met American long haul truckers whose characteristics intersected between the heroic individual, the spiritual searcher and the romantic cowboy.

They travel over the roads, connecting towns to cities often confronting danger, loneliness, inclement weather and federal regulations. They leave their family and friends for weeks or months at a time to perform a vital function for the economic prosperity of this country. My portraits of these unseen drivers are a testament to the working class.

The uses of my project are sociological, historical and aesthetic. My goal is to go back on the road to develop and widen the work I have already done. To find the funding to bring it to a conclusion as a solo exhibition and book. These funds would be applied to travel, purchasing film, developing, making prints, framing, book design and publisher.

Listen to an interview with Michael Ruggiero about creating long-term projects like this one on the SPM Podcast.

Michael Ruggiero

Michael Ruggiero is a chef, photographer and photojournalist working as a contributor to both large and small city newspapers since 1985. He was educated in Photography at the Grossmont City College and was an apprenticed chef at the San Diego Hilton Hotel in San Diego, California. His first exhibition of his work was in 1983 at the Lapey Rome Galley in Paris, France. Upon returning to the USA, he became a Chef but continued his pursuit of being a photojournalist. In the 1980’s his reputation grew as a chef along side his passion for “street photography”. He returned to Europe on several occasions traveling through many of her famous cities looking for that “decisive moment”. As the 90’s ended, he decided that a career of being a chef wasn’t so bad after all, since it was using his creative cooking talents to make a living while creating a body of photography that spans 40 years. Currently he lives, takes pictures and works (still in the kitchen!) on the eastern end of Long Island, New York with his wife of 32 years, two dogs, a cat, some fish and oh yeah, a 26 year old son.

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Articles
March 2021

Interview with Cristina Garlesteanu

A talented street photographer talks about the joys and challenges of the craft.

Over the Road

Michael Ruggiero captures portraits of American long-haul truckers and the spirit of the working class.

Teleport

When street photography feels creatively exhausted - teleport yourself with Cristóbal Carretero Cassinello.

Diary of a Pandemic

As the pandemic crept back in Italy, Marco Campi found beauty in an unusual place.

Making Street Portraits

Learn the basics of shooting solid street portraits with Bob Patterson.

Street Shooters of March 2021

Top contributions from members of our community.

Street Photography Magazine is the journal of street and documentary photography

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