Artist Statement: These images are from “Once Upon A Playground,” a series centered on vintage playground equipment that is quickly disappearing from the American landscape. The equipment that generations of Americans grew up with – from towering metal slides installed in the 1940s to giant rocket ships erected in the 1970s – becomes more scarce each year as communities across the country renovate their parks and school yards. Because these vanishing artifacts of childhood represent a tangible piece of our country’s cultural heritage, I spent seven years (2006-2011) documenting remaining structures in their original environment throughout the country. In an era when more and more children spend their free time indoors in front of electronic devices, I wanted to capture the essence of what childhood play looked like in past decades, as well as bring attention to the dwindling number of these beloved childhood icons. In 2014, the University Press of New England published the images in a book that combines over 160 of my contemporary photographs with dozens of vintage images of playgrounds around the country. The project is now the subject of a five-year traveling exhibition organized by ExhibitsUSA.