Enter the archive
/ Photographs, 1970 to present

Byron Ellington Coleman Jr

Five decades of frames. No corrections, no selections. Exactly what was in front of the camera.

— What this is

One record. Nothing removed.

This is a photographic archive, not an exhibition. Every image is presented as shot — grain, exposure, composition, and all. Nothing has been corrected to tell a cleaner story.

Some years are dense with frames. Some stretch thin. That unevenness is part of the record.

Street corner in early 1970s America, overcast daylight, a group of people waiting at a crosswalk, coats and hats of the era, Kodachrome color rendering, slight lens softness
Street corner in early 1970s America, overcast daylight, a group of people waiting at a crosswalk, coats and hats of the era, Kodachrome color rendering, slight lens softness
A backyard barbecue in the mid-1980s, harsh midday sun, folding chairs on patchy grass, a child running blurred at the frame edge, color print film with slight color shift toward orange
A backyard barbecue in the mid-1980s, harsh midday sun, folding chairs on patchy grass, a child running blurred at the frame edge, color print film with slight color shift toward orange
A wide shot of a parking lot at dusk in the early 1990s, sodium vapor lights beginning to glow orange, a single car in the foreground, flat overcast sky, slightly underexposed print film
A wide shot of a parking lot at dusk in the early 1990s, sodium vapor lights beginning to glow orange, a single car in the foreground, flat overcast sky, slightly underexposed print film
An early 2000s digital photograph of a living room window, morning light coming through thin curtains, a coffee mug on the sill, slightly flat digital color rendering, no grain
An early 2000s digital photograph of a living room window, morning light coming through thin curtains, a coffee mug on the sill, slightly flat digital color rendering, no grain
Navigate by era

Four decades, one archive

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s – Present

The earliest stratum. Film stock and available light from the first decade of the record.

The record deepens. Domestic interiors, familiar faces, the same places in different light.

Digital capture begins. The texture of the images changes; the subject matter does not.

The middle of the archive. Continuities and gaps become visible across the decades.

About the archive

About the archive explains what you are and are not looking at — how the photographs were kept, what was lost, and why nothing was fixed.

Questions or contributions: use the contact page.