Photographing the American Dreamers
What is the American dream? What does it look like? How many types of American dreams are there, and how many have there been?
Seeking answers to these questions, though fun, is a fruitless pursuit. Everyone, American or not, has his or her own idea of a life actualized. And every great American photographer, be it Robert Frank, Richard Avedon or Ansel Adams, has photographed a different America. That’s why this past month has been so interesting: I’ve had the pleasure of seeing how Atlantic readers see the American dream, minute by minute and day by day, thanks to the hashtag #AtlanticAmericanDream. To some readers, the dream is as simple as a flag. To others, it’s a building piercing through clouds. To many, it’s a quiet moment with friends and family.
The dream with a capital “D,” of course, cannot be contained in a single photograph or a simple phrase. The dream is all these things at once, to everyone. It’s a proud cacophony of cultures that intersect and challenge one another, and below you’ll find images just like that. EchoSight's Daniella Zalcman and myself have sifted through all the Tweets and Instagrams to find the loudest images, and then mashed them up with images louder still. We also asked the photographers to tell us a little about their photographs and their dreams, which are included below each montage and have all been condensed and edited.
Some of these images and quotes will speak directly to your ideas about America; others may force you to look again.
