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Anywhere Blvd

@anywhereblvd

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Featuring portrait photographers and the stories behind their work. Interviews on AnywhereBlvd.com
Curated by @rhombie
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@rhombie here, I want to thank Jon Moore (@doomstache) for taking the time to share his work on Anywhere Blvd. I make it clear to every artist I feature that I want to hear about their struggles, too, because I believe that by sharing these experiences, we can help create a space where we feel less alone in our own.

Jon’s interview explores his determination to create space for his work and the intentional decisions he makes to move one step closer to his goals. Our conversation also led us to reflect on the American Dream, the pressure it places on us to constantly strive for accomplishing it, and the possibility that we have more control than we realize in choosing whether to carry that weight.

“I think the American Dream is a kind of guise that people buy into, ultimately allowing giant corporations to continue making more money. America isn’t just a country, it’s a business.

I grew up as a creative person, and I’ve spent my whole life wrestling with this idea of the “American Dream,” especially through my involvement in punk rock and hardcore music. The DIY scene has given me an incredible trajectory for expressing myself creatively. Along the way, I’ve met an amazing number of interesting and inspiring people who have challenged the way I see the world. Those experiences have shaped how I think, how I create, and ultimately how I photograph the things around me.”

If you haven’t read my interview with him, you can do so on AnywhereBlvd.com. Thank you, Jon, for entrusting me with hundreds of your photographs to explore and sequence. It has been a task I’ve truly loved, a gift to spend time with your work and discover the poetry woven throughout your images.

#AnywhereBlvd #JonMoore by @anywhereblvd

Jon Moore (@doomstache) describes most of his photographs as documenting ‘human affected landscapes,’ images that show our footprint, our past presence on a landscape. In my interview with him he shares some of the questions that drive his exploration.

“I’m usually drawn to places that feel lived in, places where people have left traces of themselves without necessarily being present anymore. A weathered building, tire tracks, an abandoned parking lot, a fence that’s been repaired a dozen different ways. Those details feel less like evidence and more like conversations. They tell you something about the people who passed through, even if you never met.”

These images leave room for us to imagine the story that unfolded before that fleeting moment. They open a window into our own imagination, inviting us to consider the many stories that might exist or, for Jon, to keep searching for them. Visit my interview with him on AnywhereBlvd.com to discover more about the questions that guide his lens and why he makes a conscious effort not to “collect spoons.”

#AnywhereBlvd #JonMoore by @anywhereblvd

While speaking with Jon Moore (@doomstache), I was curious what drew him to a particular place and how he decided where to go once he arrived. For him, sometimes that means walking into a tavern in the middle of the day, but he always begins by drawing a circle on the map to explore. There may be one destination within that circle he wants to visit, but beyond that, the landscape and the people who call it home determine his experience as he explores why people choose to live where they do.

“I’m always open to photograph any area on a map, but first I try to find a point of interest and then expand out from there. The point of interest can be inspired from an article I read online about a small town, a friend of a friend that might know an interesting person in that town, or just scanning satellite maps all day until I find something interesting. If I get enough points of interest in a certain area, I’ll make a trip out of it. I usually have to have at least three of them.

I’m usually drawn to places that feel lived in, places where people have left traces of themselves without necessarily being present anymore. A weathered building, tire tracks, an abandoned parking lot, a fence that’s been repaired a dozen different ways. Those details feel less like evidence and more like conversations. They tell you something about the people who passed through, even if you never met.”

Learn more by visiting my interview with him on AnywhereBlvd.com

#AnywhereBlvd #JonMoore by @anywhereblvd

Jon Moore (@doomstache) is the first person I’ve interviewed who has said he’d rather be in the company of others than work alone. As our conversation unfolded, I noticed he spoke about every person he mentioned with genuine warmth.

In my interview with him, he shares his belief that most people simply want someone to talk to, that we all crave connection. He puts that belief into practice by greeting strangers as if they’re already friends. That warmth has taken him to places no map could.

“If you show up without introducing yourself or starting a conversation, especially if you’re wandering around with a camera, people can get suspicious. They see someone doing something unusual and assume the worst. But if you take the time to talk to people first, everything changes. A conversation becomes a gateway. It builds trust, opens doors, and often leads to experiences and photographs you never would have found otherwise.
I also let my guard down tremendously. I’ll let people tease me or make fun of me if they want to. It’s a good way of showing them that I can take a punch, and I think it makes people feel more comfortable around me. I listen to people. I ask questions. I never brag about anything I’ve done or anything I own. After all, you can’t learn anything if you’re the one doing all the talking.”

Visit AnywhereBlvd.com for my interview with Jon, he shares the story behind meeting Phil, an experience that demonstrates how he brings his belief to life. (link in bio) Swipe to read portions.

#AnywhereBlvd #JonMoore

“I met Phil in a town called Tonopah, Nevada. I was riding around in a rental truck with my friend Lucas, which is a pretty common thing for us to do. We had planned to photograph the town at sunset, and as we were getting ready to park, I noticed an interesting looking guy pulling up on a motorcycle. I had to make his portrait.

The first thing I said to him was, “That’s a cool bike.” He thanked me and started telling me about it. From there, I asked where he lived and what he did for work. It turned out he was a miner, which is a pretty common occupation in Nevada. He lived in a neighboring town called Goldfield, one of the most interesting plac by @anywhereblvd

In my interview with Jon Moore (@doomstache), he shares that from a young age he was driven to understand how things worked, often taking them apart to see how they functioned. That curiosity kept the family camera out of his hands until he was 13, when a trip to New York introduced him to a whole new way to explore how things work.

“After seeing that binder full of images from our trip to New York, I began to realize what I could actually accomplish with a camera. Each photograph unlocked something I had already begun to forget. I could remember the smell of the street, the weather that afternoon, the conversation happening just outside the frame. I realized that photographs weren’t simply records of what something looked like. They were vessels for memory, capable of holding an entire experience inside a single frame.

That realization has stayed with me ever since. Photography became less about documenting what was in front of me and more about preserving the feeling of having been there. It’s still how I approach the medium today: as a way of paying closer attention to the world, trusting that if I look closely enough, the photograph might reveal something I didn’t even know I was looking for.”

Visit my interview with Jon Moore on AnywhereBlvd.com which includes a photograph of him from his trip to New York.

#AnywhereBlvd #JonMoore by @anywhereblvd

In my first conversation with Jon Moore (@doomstache), it felt as though I was sitting beside him on the couch where a pivotal moment in his life had shaped the way he sees the world. Jon makes decisions by asking himself a simple question: Will this take me one step closer to what I want? And what he wants is far removed from the white picket fence version of the American Dream.

He wants to experience life in the company of others. He does that by walking into taverns, striking up conversations, and treating every stranger like a friend from the moment they meet. His warmth and willingness to say yes to whatever life offers carry him far beyond where a map ever could. As he leans back to frame a photograph, a rat might dart across the scene, or he might find mold floating in the coffee mug he’s just been offered. None of it deters him. Every unexpected moment brings him one step closer to what he’s really after, a genuine experience of life.

Jon warned me that he isn’t poetic, but after hearing the way he’s navigated life, I realize it’s often hardest to recognize the poetry within ourselves. His story begins with an obsession to understand how things work and a trip to New York, where his mother let him borrow her camera. Experiencing the city through a viewfinder fixed his relationship to the world in a way that never left him. I think Jon is still that same person today, driven by curiosity, wondering why people choose to live where they do, and believing the best way to understand them is by meeting them where they are.

Visit AnywhereBlvd.com for my interview with Jon Moore to learn more.

#AnywhereBlvd #JonMoore #portraitphotography by @anywhereblvd

@rhombie here, wanting to thank Ben Ward (@ben.p.ward) for taking the time to share his work with Anywhere Blvd.

During our conversation, Ben told me that when he first picked up a camera, he was most drawn to photographing people. Over time, though, that focus shifted. It became less about the individual and more about creating a broader portrait of a place. Yet as we continued talking, it felt like the conversation came full circle. With age and perspective, what drives us often becomes less about what exists within the frame and more about the experience that led us there in the first place.

It’s easy to lose sight of why we started. Finding our way back often asks for the same things Ben’s process does: unplugging, resisting the urge to overthink, and saying yes to the journey even when we have no idea what waits around the next bend. Trusting the road anyway is what makes room for the unexpected, for the moments that remind us why we create, and for the experiences that open us up to the magic of being alive.

If you haven’t yet explored my interview with him take a moment to do so by visiting AnywhereBlvd.com

#AnywhereBlvd #BenWard #portraitphotography by @anywhereblvd

No matter the path someone takes in life, there often comes a kind of internal crisis, a voice that pushes back against your pursuit and asks what any of it is really for. Ben Ward (@ben.p.ward) and I spoke about this, and he describes how a big part of his motivation is turning the next corner just to see what’s there.

“If I start to think too much about why I do what I do, or why I’m investing so much time and energy and money into this pursuit, the logic doesn’t really hold up. It seems to work best when I just turn my brain off for a weekend and drive and take pictures. Pushing through that feeling of uncertainty has just become a part of the process. All it takes for that feeling to fade is just taking the first picture, and from there it’s a clean slate. It’s really such a simple thing that keeps me going - it’s just taking a picture that I think is going to be good, or having a positive encounter with someone, whether a picture comes out of it or not.”

Learn more in my interview with him on AnywhereBlvd.com (Link in bio)

#AnywhereBlvd #BenWard by @anywhereblvd

While looking at Ben Ward's (@ben.p.ward)work, I found myself drawn to the men he photographs. At first glance, they can appear rugged or tough, but what stayed with me was the softness in their demeanor. It seems to speak to the space Ben creates, the way his presence invites people to let their guard down. As he told me, "There's always a piece of me in the people I'm interested in." So I asked him to tell us more.

“I think good portraits should convey a sense of tension - a hardness and a softness, a lightness and a darkness. I’m really drawn to people that can convey that visually.

I don’t think it's necessarily a conscious thing, but I definitely am drawn towards people that I can see parts of myself in, in one way or another. Just like in life, you want to be around people that you can relate to and learn from. The West especially celebrates characters with a tough, rigid exterior. I like to see where I can cut through that a bit. I feel such a sense of relief when I start to have a conversation with someone who is willing to set that aside and just be real for a bit. I try to do that right off the bat - I don’t pretend to be anything I’m not, I just try to be honest with people about the work that I’m doing and show some enthusiasm about it, and often that enthusiasm is reciprocated.”

Visit AnywhereBlvd.com for my interview with Ben Ward.

Learn more in my interview with him on AnywhereBlvd.com (link in bio)

#AnywhereBlvd #BenWard #portraitphotography by @anywhereblvd

In my interview with Ben Ward (@ben.p.ward), we discuss how, when he first picked up a camera, he was most drawn to photographing people. Over time, that focus shifted. His work became about creating a broader portrait of a place. When I ask what experience stands out as a reminder that the effort, time, and persistence is worth it in his search for what he’s drawn to, Ben reflects:

“Months ago I met a man who was known colloquially as the “rock man”, or at least that’s how he was introduced to me. It was a small town, so I would run into him every once in a while, while I was wandering the streets with a camera. One day, he told me about a sinkhole outside of town that he’d been frequenting. He spends his free time in the hills outside of town digging for rocks, so he knows the ins and outs of the region pretty well. The next day, he offered to take me up to the sinkhole on the back of his gas-powered mini bike. We ended up spending the whole afternoon just wandering the hills, digging for rocks, and admiring the 40ft sinkhole. I felt a true sense of childlike freedom that hasn’t been in my life for a while. I’m constantly in awe and grateful for peoples’ willingness to share things with me, be it stories, time, food, or secret sinkholes.”

Visit AnywhereBlvd.com for my interview with Ben Ward.

#AnywhereBlvd #BenWard by @anywhereblvd

Ben Ward (@ben.p.ward) contrasts carefully planning every trip online with simply getting in the car and driving. He sees it as a form of resistance precisely because technology encourages efficiency, predictability, and constant connectivity.

“You can spend an entire day online plotting a road trip and finding the best places to stop for photos and the best places to eat, or you can just get in your car and drive. Embracing uncertainty truly feels like an act of resistance in a tech-obsessed world that is designed to make things feel safe and efficient. More and more, I feel drawn to people and places that have, in a way, rejected some sort of social norm, especially technology. Beyond all the heady art-speak, I think the reason I do what I do is just because it’s fun and feels more like freedom to me than anything else.”

Learn more in my interview with him on AnywhereBlvd.com where he shares how he relies on instinct and muscle memory.

#AnywhereBlvd #BenWard by @anywhereblvd