I never really paid attention to mailboxes until I started taking pictures. Photography has opened me up to much of the color and light in the world.
I think of mailboxes as a kind of American folk art; all types of mailboxes, from steel to aluminum to carved wood. Mailboxes are a way of expressing our individuality and identity.
Mailboxes can tell us where we are and, sometimes, who we are.
Rural mailboxes are very different from urban and suburban mailboxes. Because the distances between some houses are great, the boxes tend to be clustered together, but I’m always struck by how people put their marks on them.
Mailboxes are often a meeting place where distant neighbors get to see and talk to one another. They are lovely in the snow; I hope to photograph some this winter.
That is a great shot. Triggers a lot of stories too.
I just love taking photos of lines of rural mailboxes. This is a good one, Jon.
Such a beautiful photo. I grew up in the country. I now live in a mid-sized city and that photo symbolizes how much has changed in my life since my rural childhood. My mail is now in a street box under lock and key. People have used crowbars to pry the back off of the box, stealing an entire neighborhood’s mail in a few minutes. Unfortunately that theft is now common and as a result fewer and fewer people in my area use the US mail as a result.