East Coast Photography

Small Town America - Photography

Road Trip - American Culture

Cross country road trips have been a constant in my life for the past 12+ years, particularly in late December driving from San Diego, CA to upstate NY to visit family for Christmas. This year though, it was significantly shorter as we are currently living in North Carolina. If you want advice on the most soul sucking drive in the USA, it’s I95 from Raleigh to Albany. Avoid it at all costs. I did it once in a straight shot due to a severe lack of time and will never do it again. As a photographer you’re much better off committing to the many backroads that will get you to the same place while also delivering a much better experience. Here are a few images from PA and NY. Pennsylvania has always been a fascinating state. There is a sadness to a lot of the towns, particularly in the rust belt, but they are all undeniably American. Plenty of towns in America could be anywhere in America, but the majority of Pennsylvania makes you acutely aware that you are in a place.

Click here to see more of my American Photography

Union Cemetery - Hudson Falls, NY

Pittston, Pennsylvania

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Edwardsville, Pennsylvania

Pittston, Pennsylvania

Pittston, Pennsylvania

Hudson Falls, New York

Photography Books - American Culture

American Photography - Documenting Traditional Barbershops

American photography as a genre is hard to define, especially when it comes to art collection and fine art photography. The term is so broad and leaves plenty of room for interpretation. One of my longest running series Barbershops of America fits into that category. Although it’s only been recently that I realized what’s been put together with this series is as much American photography as it is a historical document of a niche piece of American culture. And it occured to me the other day that getting a haircut is just a bonus to the experience you receive from being in a traditional barbershop. Grateful to see this project getting some exposure on Creative Boom and The Eye of Photography.

Click HERE to purchase a copy of Barbershops of American or HERE to purchase fine art prints.

Barbershop Photography

Traditional American Barbershops

One of the best/hardest parts of working on long term projects focused on one subject matter is the bar is always rising. And that has definitely been the case for Barbershops of America. Traditional shops are a dying breed as is, and after seeing countless shops (good and bad) over the past 10 years, I’ve become quite specific about which shops I want to include in this project. Despite lots of travel and searching for shops over the past year+, the efforts have been fruitless, finding almost nothing worthy of documentation. Sort of hard to believe, actually. Searching for that long without positive results can make you think hard about the project. Is it done? Have I truly found and photographed all the remaining traditional barbershops in America? All of that doubt was erased recently after finding two incredible shops. Nicholson’s Barbershop in Raleigh, NC has been around for 40 years and Patsy’s Barbershop in Albany, NY first opened its doors in 1930! I was born in Albany, lived nearby for 25 years, have been going back at least twice a year for the past 18 years, and just last week discovered Patsy’s. Even more strange, the current owner is a former bouncer that used to, for good reason, throw my friends and I out of the bar. Funny how life works.

Click here to purchase a copy of Barbershops of America

The best barbershop in Raleigh, North Carolina

Nicholson’s Barbershop - Raleigh, North Carolina

Photograph of a barber's hands
Photograph of a traditional barbershop in Raleigh, North Carolina
The best barbershop in Albany, NY

Patsy’s Barbershop - Albany, NY

Photograph of a beautiful traditional barbershop in Albany, NY

Traditional barbershop in Albany, NY


Cowboy Photography - Buckaroos

The Great Basin Buckaroo

Cowboy Photography - American West - Prints

What a blast this project has been over the past year and a half. Maybe more? Would have to go back and check to see when it really began. In December I visited the C-Punch Ranch in Lovelock, Nevada and the Winecup Gamble Ranch in Montello, Nevada. Both ranches were jaw dropping beautiful and incomprehensibly large. The C-Punch, the biggest I’ve been to so far, is 1.8 million acres. Yeah. Try wrapping your head around that. Seeing all these properties in different parts of the country has been amazing. Each region has its own beauty. Nobody ever said to pick a favorite, but there’s something about the land in northern Nevada that really does it for me. Still working on putting that into words, but it’s special, to say the least. Forgive me for not sharing too many images here, but I’ve got to hold back so there is plenty of fresh content for the book.

Click here to see more of my cowboy photography or contact me directly if you’d like to purchase prints for your home, office, and commercial space. My western wall art is available in multiple sizes.

Photograph of a cowboy riding his horse through a huge pasture on the C-Punch Ranch - Lovelock, Nevada

C-Punch Ranch - Lovelock, Nevada

Winecup Gamble Ranch - Montello, Nevada

Winecup Gamble Ranch - Montello, Nevada

Cowboys working on the Winecup Gamble Ranch in Montello, Nevada

Winecup Gamble Ranch

A cowboy working on the C-Punch Ranch in Lovelock, Nevada

C-Punch Ranch

Cowboys roping cattle on the C-Punch Ranch in Lovelock, Nevada

C-Punch Ranch

Cowboys working colts in a round pen on the C-Punch Ranch in Lovelock, Nevada

C-Punch Ranch

A cowboy on the C-Punch Ranch in Lovelock, Nevada

C-Punch Ranch

Trapper Rogers - Winecup Gamble Ranch - Montello, Nevada

Portrait of Trapper Rodgers

A cowboy lets his horse drink water after branding on the C-Punch Ranch in Lovelock, Nevada

C-Punch Ranch

A cowboy pets his cattle dog after a day of work on the C-Punch Ranch in Lovelock, Nevada

C-Punch Ranch

Mammoth, California - Photography

Winter in Mammoth Lakes, California - Photos

The town and resort of Mammoth had was hit with a record breaking snow storm recently. Not sure what the final tally was, but it had to be well over 100 inches in the span of a week or so, transforming it into a winter wonderland. Emily and I took a trip up there just for fun. The resort was a shitshow and avalanche danger in the backcountry was far too high, so we didn’t even snowboard. Instead we just enjoyed the vibe of being in that much snow. It’s an incredible sight that brings out the best and worst in people. Some can’t help but be giddy, while others lose any amount of common sense they ever had. The first morning we walked out of our airbnb to a shovelfest in the parking lot. It was chaos. From one end of the lot to the other was nothing but people digging out their vehicles. Most of which were Tesla’s and BMW’s that had no business being there to begin with.

That day we rented cross country skis and literally toured around the empty sidewalks, which felt more like tunnels through a maze because the snow on each side was so high. Not my favorite activity, but it was a blast that day. Grateful to witness nature like that. What a time to be alive.

Contact me directly for inquiries about wall art of Mammoth Lakes, California. Prints available in multiple sizes.

The Sierra Nevada Resort in Mammoth Lakes, California after a huge snowstorm
Schat's Bakery in Mammoth Lakes, California covered in snow after a massive snow storm
A massive winter snow storm in Mammoth Lakes, California
A snowboarder walks down the street after a massive winter snow storm in Mammoth Lakes, California
A basketball hoop completely covered in snow after a record breaking winter storm in Mammoth Lakes, California
A car completely covered in snow after a massive winter storm in Mammoth Lakes, California
Schat's Bakery and other local businesses covered in snow after a massive winter storm in Mammoth Lakes, California
Massive winter snow storm in Mammoth Lakes, California
A-Frame Liquor store covered in snow after a record breaking winter storm in Mammoth Lakes, California
Buildings covered in snow after a record breaking winter storm in Mammoth Lakes, California
Mammoth Liquor Store covered in snow after a record breaking storm in Mammoth Lakes, California

San Francisco Photography

Street Photography - San Francisco

California Photo Gallery

Had another commercial shoot in San Francisco a while ago and planned a little extra time to play around in the streets. It’s always a fun way to relax and grow as a photographer. No idea what the bigger picture is for this ongoing series, but that doesn’t matter. Even if it’s just a personal documentation of the city, that’s ok too. This particular day got interesting about an hour in to the walk, when a women pulled up in her car and asked what I was doing. She didn’t like my simple answer and continued to disagree with everything that came after. So I went on my way, only to have her creep behind me for an hour, watching from a distance. At one point our paths crossed closely and her window was down, so I asked if she was having fun. She replied with an entitled grin as if she had cracked the case of the century, saying “I know what you’re after, mailboxes and garages”. I just kept walking. Eventually she couldn’t follow any longer after my path went through a park. People are funny. Did I handle the situation properly? Probably not. If there was a business card in my pocket it would have went immediately to her, but there was not. And her attitude was such shit, that it seemed like a losing battle to convince her of anything other than what she already had in her head. Moral of the story: always carry a business card to show Karen??

Click here to see more from my American photography series

Street photography from the streets and neighborhoods of San Francisco, California by Rob Hammer

San Francisco street photography

San Francisco street photography

San Francisco street photography

San Francisco Street Photography

San Francisco photography

San Francisco Street Photography

San Francisco street photography

Street Photography in San Francisco, California

Street photography - San Francisco, CA

Photography - San Francisco, California - Street Photography

San Francisco, CA

Street Photography - San Francisco, California

San Francisco, CA

Street Photography - San Francisco, California

Street Photography - San Francisco, CA

Street Photography - San Francisco, California

San Francisco street photography

San Francisco Street Photography

Street photograph of a San Francisco neighborhood

Street Photography - San Francisco, California

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco Street Photography

Photo of a beautiful home in San Francisco

Street Photography San Francisco, California

San Francisco street photography

American Photography

Photographing America - The Open Road

Road Trip Photography Prints - Americana

A new batch of American photographs from the last couple road trips around the country. This series has gotten increasingly overwhelming from an archive perspective. It’s probably the largest series to date, but also the one I’ve done the least with. And by “least”, I mean nothing. So to look at it as a whole feels like a monumental tasks to make sense of for a book or any other publication. Guess it’s time to turn things over to a professional??!!

Click here to see more of the America series.

Contact me directly to order fine art prints for your home, office, or commercial space - rob@robhammerphotography.com

El Capitan Casino in Hawthorne, Nevada - Photo

Hawthorne, Nevada

Photo of the Honolulu Club bar in Yucca, Arizona - vintage sign.

Honolulu Club - Yucca, Arizona

McDonald's billboard and other signs in the desert landscape outside Tuba City, Arizona - Photo

Tuba City, Arizona

A small town graveyard with wind turbines in the background in southern Iowa

Southern Iowa

A Little League baseball field in the small farm town of Griswold, Iowa

Griswold, Iowa

Photo of a broken down truck in front of a factory in Big Island, Virginia

Big Island, Virginia

A baseball field in front of farm silos in Mountain Home, Idaho - Photo - Rob Hammer

Mountain Home, Idaho

Hillsboro, Ohio

Hillsboro, Illinois

Photo of a palm tree, power lines, and clouds in the California desert

California Desert

Vintage Whiting Bros sign in the small town of Yucca, Arizona

Whiting Bros - Yucca, Arizona

Photo of an old theater in Hawthorne, Nevada

Old movie theater - Hawthorne, Nevada

The Lovelock Speedway in Lovelock, Nevada - Photo

Lovelock Speedway - Lovelock, Nevada

Interior of an old shoe shop in Texarkana, Texas - photo

Shoe shop - Texarkana

An empty pool in a small town neighborhood near Griswold, Iowa

Griswold, Iowa

The American Barbershop

Barbeshop Photography - Prints

Americana - Wall Art

It would be nice to say that every barbershop is unique, but that’s just not true. Much like every other industry, barbershops have more than their fair share of soulless and generic establishments. That’s not even counting the Super Cuts, because really, that’s not a barbershop, nor is it worth mentioning. Those soulless shops do serve a purpose however. And that’s to help shine a light on those that are truly unique. Forgive me for not writing the information down, but the owner of Main Street Barbershop in Gardnerville, Nevada told me something or other about how the entire building they are in, was moved at some point many many years ago to the place it currently sits. That in itself is unique. To go a step further though, it also holds the distinction of being the only barbershop I’ve ever been in that buys and sells guns/ammunition. Not to pat myself on the back for such an obscure feat, but I’ve been in well over 1,000. So that has to say something? Yeah, I’ll take a high and tight. And while you’re at it, give me a case of 45 caliber. Not going to hear that too many places. Just another thing you have to love about barbershops!! Normal rules don’t apply.

Side note: How many “Main Street Barbershops” are there in America???

Click HERE to grab a copy of Barbershops of America. Click HERE to purchase prints.

American Photography

Photographing America - Road Trip - USA - Travel

Every day spent on the road is educational in some way, especially when you drive for hours upon hours without producing anything. Half days even. A full day, and you still might not have put the camera up to your eye. Then you get to some kind of hot spot, for the lack of a better word. That’s what happened here. These top 3 images were made within 100 feet of each other in some small Illinois town on a day that otherwise produced almost nothing. Odd how that happens.

Click here to see more from my America series.

At Work

There are a lot of strategies for being productive while on the road. One of them is the “pop-in”. It’s become my go-to when rain won’t let you do much outside. That’s precisely how these images came to be. The pop-in isn’t for everybody. It used to scare the hell out of me. Then you realize there are only two answers, yes or no. If it’s a no, who cares? Just move on. Tony, the owner of this garage, was happy to let me hang out for a few minutes to make some images. Confused as to why, but it didn’t bother him any. Obviously they are going into my “At Work” series that has been so much fun to shoot. Some of the images you’ll see in the gallery are personal and others were made for clients. Better yet, some of them are personal assignments that were later published. Love when that happens.

Photographing America

American Photography - Fine Art

Road Trip Photos - Travel

Walking away from our work can be such a benefit. Meaning that we need to not see it for quite some time to realize what’s good and what isn’t. The “America” series has, like most of my projects, been going on for ten years now. I love it, but things have reached the point where the library is so big that it’s overwhelming. Making it hard to share in any productive manner. Everything you seen in the post was made over the last two or three years, which is usually the amount of time it takes to make sense of it all. That’s not a good thing. It’s time to enlist the help of a professional editor.

Click here to see more from the America series

Traditional Barbershops

Small Town Barbershops

Photographs of American Culture

Hard to believe this project has been going on for 10 years now. You’d think after publishing a couple books on the subject, the desire to photograph barbershops would go away. Apparently not. What a journey it’s been and continues to be. Here are a few made over the past 6 months or so. The first shot of the Commercial Barbershop in Elko is actually a shop I photographed 8 or 9 years ago when it was in full swing. Unfortunately, it is no more. Sad, but that is exactly why I started this project.

Click here to pick up a copy of Barbershops of America.

American Basketball Culture

Basketball Hoop Photography - American Sports Culture

10 years into this series and it’s still just as much fun documenting the sport of basketball as it was initially. It’s always interesting to think about the games played on hoops in different parts of the country. It’s also enjoyable to see the images and realize that each one was an experience in itself to make. The first photo here in Primm was taken on a day so windy that I had to brace myself with one leg five feet in front of the other. You can see how the net is being pushed backwards. The second shot is from a high school gym in the middle of a remodel. Door was wide open and not a sole in sight. The hoop in Santa Rosa is actually one I photographed 10 or so years ago under completely different conditions. That image from all those years ago is in the book. Crazy how a location so random can be unintentionally revisited. And shocking to see that there is still a chain net hanging from the rim. The last image was made on a road I’ve driven a hundred times and never noticed before.

Click here to grab a copy of the book

American Motels

Road Trip Photography - American Culture

American Motels - Open Road - Americana

Another one of those subjects I can’t seem to stay away from - American Motels. Maybe it’s the nostalgia or all the time I’ve personally spent in them? Not sure. Said this in a recent post, but it was shocking to see how many of these old places had shut down during a trip out to Texas a few weeks ago. What a shame.

Click here to see more from this series.

ROAD TRIP

THE BAD:This past week was the first time in a while since I’ve been on this particular route through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The findings were not good economically. It was hard to see so many familiar small town restaurants and hotels closed, boarded up, or in the process of being demolished. Maybe the timing was a coincidence, but you have to wonder if it was all the result of COVID? Either way it’s a shame.

THE GOOD: Road trips are always so much fun, educational, and therapeutic. This one had me shooting on a cattle ranch (The Four Sixes) in the Texas panhandle where I met some great people and had a hell of a lot of fun shooting with them. Will be a while until I can post those images. So for now you can click HERE to see more of my Cowboy photography.

European Basketball

Basketball Hoop Photography

European Basketball - Sport - Culture - Prints

A few days after Christmas in 2019 Emily and I took a trip to Europe. Little did we know it would be our last overseas trip for quite some time (COVID lockdowns). Since then we haven’t slowed down much, but the travels have all been domestic. Not complaining. If anything, I’ve fallen more in love with American over the last couple years than ever. It was fun to revisit these this time in our life though.

On another note, this is the first attempt at posting old images from the massive archive that has done nothing but gather dust. I’m guilty of many things. One to be proud of though, is shooting too much. Sounds weird but it’s true. The downside to that is getting bogged down and not having the time/priority to share said images. Trying to change.

Click here to see more basketball imagery from my American Backcourts series.

American Photography

Some frames from the last road trip up to Idaho and back. Seems like I’m always saying “______ is my new favorite place” and I can’t help that because I love this country so much. For now though, Nevada is becoming that new favorite place.

Looking at this set of images is interesting because they all fit into the different major ongoing series that have taken shape over the last few years. “American” , “Hotels” , “Barbershops of America”, and the latest “Roadside Meditations” which comes out in June. Only one missing is “American Backcourts”. None of these images were intentional. I didn’t set out with the thought to add to those series, it just happens. Grateful for that.

Click here to see more of my American Road Trip Photography

On The Road Again

Winters are typically when I spend the most time on the road to get as much snowboarding in as possible. This has been a very dry year for snow but that hasn’t kept the miles off at all. The better part of the last 30 days was on the road for two different trips filled with a weekend getaway to Tahoe for Emily and I, a commercial shoot, two editorial shoots, personal shooting (of course), and a “ski” trip with old friends in Sun Valley, Idaho that turned into a fly fishing trip due to the severe lack of snow. More on all this later.

Click HERE to see some of my road trip photography

The Gunsmith

Always blows my mind to think about the simple act of talking and where it can lead. A while back I stopped in Laramie, Wyoming to say hi to a barber I’ve known there for a few years. Afterward while walking Mojo around town I came upon a gunsmith shop (not this one) a few blocks off the main street. A gunsmith at work is something I’ve been wanting to photograph, so we popped in and introduced ourselves. That interaction didn’t result in the desired outcome but it was still informational/entertaining. The owner didn’t want to be photographed for a variety of reasons. Some of them valid. The rest were…….irrational??!! The somewhat brief conversation consisted of his opinion on the world today and how “you can’t even go to Denver anymore because everybody is getting shot.” He asked if I had a gun and was upset to hear that I only kept it in my truck. “That’s not good enough. You have to keep it on you! That’s when they get you, when you’re getting out of your truck !”. I’m not disagreeing that the world is a sort of a disaster, but it also seemed like his thoughts were that of a person who might not ever leave their small town. Maybe I’m wrong?! And no disrespect to small towns. They are my favorite. Afterward I asked if there are any other gunsmiths in the area. He replied with very vague information about a guy that possibly works out of his house on a dead end street down near the highway. So I went looking and somehow found the place only recognizable by small stenciled letters “Gun Shop Parking” on the chimney bricks near the front gate. Otherwise the house was totally nondescript and didn’t show any other signs of life. A knock on the door confirmed nobody was home. Not a big deal. It was on my radar for the next trip through Wyoming.

Click HERE to see more from my “At Work” series.

Driving across America

Cross Country Road Trip - America - Photography

There aren’t a lot of positive things things to say about American highways. Whenever possible I try avoid the soulless stretches of poorly maintained pavement that teach you very little about the country and the towns/people that inhabit it. The 15 on the other hand is something special. It’s one very long stretch of highway that’s as fascinating as any “blue highway” (backroad) in the USA. I’ve personally been traveling this road since 2006 during the move from Upstate, NY to San Diego, CA. It blew my mind then and still does today. Once you get north of the clusterfuck that is Los Angeles /Riverside County and into the desert, there’s a lot to love. Images can be made from the highway or, if you want to get more intimate, try ducking off into one of the many small towns along the way.

Last month I was working on a a few stories up in Montana without a ton of time to get there, so The 15 it was, straight up north from southern California. Regardless, I ALWAYS find time in-between destinations for one or many of my ongoing series. This trip found images that will fit nicely into the “America” and “Hotel” series.

Places like Lima, Montana are endlessly fascinating no matter how many small towns I see. As someone who lives in a frustratingly populated place, it’s stimulating to stand in and see the beginning and end of a town only 75 yards long surrounded by nothing but rolling hills. You can’t help but wonder what everyday life is life for the people of that community.

The second set of images were made in St. George, Utah. Also interesting for different reasons. Although much bigger than Lima, it’s still a small town “in the middle of nowhere”. One thing that stands out is the way they build homes there to blend in to the environment. The color palette matches almost seamlessly.