- If you've been in Memphis   during the past decade,   you've probably encountered   Jamie Harmon's work.

His mobile photo booth Amurica   has been a fixture at Memphis   social events,   but when the COVID-19 pandemic   shut down the city in 2020,   the photographer   developed a new project.

Instead of taking portraits   of people out on the town,   he took his camera to them.

This is A Conversation   with Jamie Harmon.

[upbeat music] Hi, I'm Chris McCoy from the Memphis Flyer and we are here in Crosstown Arts Gallery with Jamie Harmon.

Jamie, thank you so much for joining us today.

- Thanks for having me.

- So I guess the first question is about Amurica.

You have done this photo booth for, when did you start?

- It was January of 2011 was, actually I purchased the camper, the original camper in December of 2010.

And then by the end of February of 2011, it was in its first round of what it was gonna be   which I didn't know   what it was gonna be,   it was really just gonna be   a mobile portrait thing   for just a project.

It wasn't meant to   be what it is today.

It was definitely a very simple something to do to roll around and take weird pictures of people.

- Okay, so why Amurica?

I don't know this, I've always wondered-- - Oh yeah.

This is a pretty, it's a pretty decent story.

Actually, on one of the first dates with my now wife,   Leah Keys, I don't know.

I had seen a Bank of   America sign laying behind Tad Pierson's warehouse home downtown, and it was discarded and we were, out on a date and I probably was like, maybe I was trying to show off.

I don't know.

I was like, yeah, I like to scavenge things off the road.

And anyway, so I went and I had been planning on grabbing that sign to do something with it.

This was before the photo booth was even than a thing.

- It was, you know, before it was a thing.

So I had that, I had taken that it was discarded, put it in my some storage thing that I had.

And then when the trailer was done, I was with a friend of mine, Sally Russell, and she saw the sign and was like, oh, if you take the N from the bank part and turn it upside   down, you have a U and   you can have Amurica.

And then we talked   about, you know,   what is the   definition of Amurica?

Like there's an Urban Dictionary definition.

And then it all came together with like the photo booth was a trailer and it was kind of the, the Urban Dictionary said that Amurica was the land of the red, white, trash and blue.

So it was like, oh, it's a trailer, trailer trash, Amurica on the side of a trailer.

And that's really, that was it.

That was all it was.

- And you decorated the interior of these, the Amurica photo booths.

'Cause there have been several at this point, right?

- There's been two that were mobile.

One was just destroyed by a   traffic accident six months ago   And that was the original   one, unfortunately.

But the second one   was built a few,   like a year and a half   later, so like 2012 probably.

And yeah, so my son and I, who was 11 at the time, he kind of, was just a project for us to do together.

We stapled old pictures up and then put the lights on it and then it became a software issue, which you know, that came into being over the next couple of years.

You know, like the technology was there.

I mean, I have actually used trailers for photography since the early '90s.

I had a 1-hour photo lab in an old camper in 1991 and I would go to events, shoot them on film, go out to the parking lot, process and print the pictures in an old '60s camper.

But back then, you couldn't do what you can do today.

'Cause it was, digital allowed it to go into the next mode.

- I think people who've never done it have no idea how much more convenient digital is than film.

- Oh, man, yeah, yeah for sure, for sure.

- The interior of these photo booths were spectacular and you had all kinds of stuff in them.

Still do, you know?

I shouldn't say speak of it in the past tense.

- Oh yeah.

It still exists.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

But, you put all kinds, are you like a pack rat?

- Well, I think I have a pretty decent rule of if I'm not gonna use it, I'll get rid of it.

But that was one of those things where the trail, you know, if I saw, I started collecting weirder things in the, you know, 2011 to put inside the camper and then, you know, eventually you lose interest in that kind of stuff.

So it's like, I don't really seek out that stuff as much.

But you also develop a reputation and people just start giving it to you, you know?

Like if you like, oh you like frog, you know, figurines.

If somebody thinks you like those then every time they travel, they're gonna bring you one back.

So that stuff like that happened, which I really appreciated, 'cause it was nice to have things that were, were belong to people from their childhood, even, that were put in there.

If I was shooting their wedding, they would be like, I brought this for you to keep in the photo booth.

Stuff like that.

So it, it just kind of, it began a life of its own.

- So, and yeah, it does have a life of its own.

These photographs are all over social media.

You know, people go into parties and they get their picture taken at Amurica.

I've got three or four, you know?

- Yeah.

It was very distinctive for, it was definitely built for social media at the time.

I mean in 2011, I don't even think I was on Instagram at that time.

It was around, but I just wasn't using it, you know, at the time.

And then I adapted of course, and it was definitely a, it became one of those Memphis people have said,   it's like your   Memphis passport.

I mean over the   past 11 years now,   I mean the last two don't   really count cause it's kind of   been shut down,   but there's probably half   a million photos that I've   archived of people in there.

And people that were   like on their first date   and then I was at   their wedding and then   they're in there with their   kids and then so forth.

And of course there's   other, you know,   there's divorces as   well, but it's yeah.

The kids have grown up   with pictures in there.

So it's kind of   been a cool project.

I didn't know what,   I didn't know, the first year when it started getting some traction, my instinct was to run from it.

I was like, this can't be, I can't do this forever.

But then, you know, it, it was all positive.

Everything became a, it's only been positive since it started, really.

- So you've been doing event photography for a while.

Like that kind of was your roots right?

- I started out actually almost right outta high school, photographing people that rode the riverboats downtown, the Memphis Queen line riverboats.

And I would, it had a Pentax film.

It was all film, and I would process and then run to the lab, which was on Beale Street Landing, which is no longer there, and then bring the pictures back to sell them.

And I did that for a decade in the '90s.

So my 20s was, was meant, was doing that.

So I really got used to a camera.

And do, you know, I didn't even have to think about the metering.

It was just like, I can look and know what to do 'cause I was doing it all day every day, same with printing and processing color.

You know, I was using machines that were 10, that were over a decade old.

So in the '90s, that's where I just became more of an obsessive photographer and just documented everything 'cause it was easy.

I had access to all of the machinery and all of the, the film was cheap 'cause I'd order it in bulk.

So really my obsession of like this project is over 800 images.

It was like 15 to 20 miniature creative jobs per day.

Like every shoot was a new, you've got 15 minutes to do it.

That's for later in the conversation probably.

- Well let's go there.

- But it's connected, you know, it's connected.

Like you just start something when you're young and then you never stop.

- The only other question I have about that or that seems to be important is to me is like, you just are so good at shooting people.

And like, I mean some photographers do landscapes, some photographers do like, very posed kind of stuff, but you seem to thrive on spontaneity and specifically taking pictures of people's faces.

I mean... - Yeah.

I think that took time.

In my 20s, I was not, I was too intimidated by approaching people.

You know, as you get older, that becomes a little easier.

And I think it was just a good natural progression of my interests when I was younger.

And then you get bored with taking pictures of things that are inanimate, or finding things or using props or whatever they were and only shooting stuff of your family.

I mean, when you, you know, it's easy to shoot pictures of your family, if they're into it because you're with them, it's close, the intimidation factor isn't there.

But I do like to work fast because it doesn't allow me to have to sit there and think about what could go wrong.

Or the awkward silences of what's next.

So I think it works better for me to be in a situation to where let's just figure it out when you get here, instead of trying to pre-plan everything.

- Which brings us to the, what do you call it?

Is this the quarantine project?

- You know, in the beginning it was Quarantine Memphis, but I wanted Memphis to be first.

So now it's called Memphis Quarantine.

- Well obviously March 2021 happens, the city shuts down.

Amurica is not happening anymore.

- Yeah.

- So.

- Yeah, so that's, it all started that we were, everyone was sent home here in Memphis from school and most jobs on March 13th.

I think I was initially a little panicked that I wasn't, that I was gonna be stuck at home because that was the literal, you know, words that were used, stay at home.

And then I started thinking about the rules of like, well, what are the rules?

Like, don't go to a bar, don't go to church, don't go to have a party.

Don't just, stay away from crowds.

You can go to the park, you can walk around, you can talk to people, people from 20 feet away outdoors, it's perfectly fine.

But still the social norms kind of still worried me that if I start taking these pictures, am I gonna be targeted, you know, and canceled or whatever you want to call it.

So I first started with friends, Ryan Azada   and Maria Applegate were the   first people I called to say,   "Hey, can I just come   take your picture   through your windows?"

And just to give   me something to do.

And then after that I kind   of put it on reluctantly,   I put it on social   media thinking   it's either gonna backfire   or it's gonna keep me busy.

And we were all told,   yeah we'll shut   down for two weeks.

And then we can, you know, so I was thinking it's a two-week project.

So I was trying to get as many   in a day as I could for two   weeks because I knew   it was gonna end   or I thought it was gonna end.

And after that happened,   I was getting text messages   and messages from like five   different sources from emails   and Facebook and Instagram.

And that got outta hand.

I couldn't keep up with that.

So Leah, my wife, said,   "Look, let me take over   the organizing of it,"   because at that point   there were too many people   and she made a   Google signup sheet,   which then went almost   within weeks to 1200 people.

And then she organized them   all by zipcode and area.

So if I was going   to Germantown,   I needed like 15 people,   they were in the same area.

So I could just go from one house to the other, kinda like going to the grocery store.

You don't want go to the produce and then immediately to the eggs and then back to the produce, like plan it, right?

- Well that's how I act in the grocery store.

Ideally, you shouldn't do that.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

So I was, when I was doing it, I was like, oh yeah, I'm driving to Collierville and then I'd have someone downtown.

I was like, I can't, that's too much driving and that's not efficient.

So she broke it down and did the schedule for two months.

And it was like, I would, she would just put it in a Google map and I'd open my phone and there would be a list of people there, and I would just go one after the other.

So I could just focus on showing up, doing the job and going to the next one and then sitting and editing for six hours at the end of the day.

So it was, we didn't have that many rain days either.

So it was almost every day for, you know, two and a half months, a little over two and a half months.

- See, that's my memory of the beginning of the pandemic is how beautiful the weather was.

- It was beautiful until the end of May.

- Yeah.

I was like, it feels like it should be storming outside or something like there should be some visible like manifestation of all this.

- Yeah.

That was a great, that really helped because my vehicle is not air conditioned.

So driving around all day would've been brutal if it would've gotten into the 90s in the beginning of May.

By June 8th, it was hot, and that was one of the factors.

It was like, yeah, I gotta stop.

It's just too much.

- Yeah.

So all these pictures were taken between March and... - Between March 13th and June 8th, June 8th was the last one that I shot.

And then it still took me another 25 days to edit because I wasn't able to keep up with the editing of every day.

I couldn't shoot and edit those the same day.

And by the time I stopped, like early May still hadn't even been looked at.

So I had a month of editing to do.

And so I was finished totally with that by the first week of July probably and then every single family or person and dwelling that I showed up to, I would send them a link with their images that were edited so they could have those to do what they wanted with.

So like every single 830 of those is all a separate link and all a, you know, a private thing for them to have 'cause it was, there was no charge.

Didn't even want to really talk about money because I, we wanted it, when I talked to Leah about it a lot to just brainstorm it.

And she was like, it needs to be equitable.

You know, like it doesn't need to, you don't need to feel like it is something that you have to purchase, like a private setting of a photographer.

It needed to be, like any, just sign up.

It's just something for all of us to do.

And many people did donate money to keep things going, which was wonderful.

And I appreciate all of those people, but I never discussed it just because there were so many people that were trying to figure out even how to navigate the government assistance system and all of those things.

- So you said you did about 800?

- It was about 833, I think, was the total number by June 8th.

- Wow.

And yeah, and it was also 15-minute conversations with 830 people over those first 2 months.

So it was a really great perspective of trying to figure out what is gonna happen.

So I wasn't really paying attention to those conversations until May, and then it all became clear that, oh, this is gonna be the best we get.

Like these are the golden days and then it's just gonna go to hell, you know?

- And it kind of did.

- Yeah.

It's weird to think about, to look back on that time and think, it was, things were pretty okay.

But they were, and in the meantime... - Scary but temporary at that moment.

- Scary but temporary.

- Everybody thought it was temporary.

You know, like we're going to fix this.

- Did you let people decide where they were gonna get their picture taken?

- Well, yeah, I'm pretty flexible.

And I like to start things off with like, I would start things off by saying, you know, good to meet you, all this other stuff and ask how things were going and then say, look, there's things that I want to do, and I would like to do things that you would like to do.

So where would you like a nice family portrait just to, for your vision, whatever you see.

And a lot of them had it all planned and they had costumes on.

Most people were just like, do whatever you want to do.

And then it would become clear that I did what I wanted to do and pick the windows and areas that I wanted them to be in, then they came up with their own ideas.

You know, it's like once it got started, they always ended it with, well, can we do one here?

They were reluctant to be the director in the beginning, But by the end, almost everybody wanted to be the director.

Which was fine.

- When you did me and my wife,   we were like in our robes.

- Yeah.

And that was just,   I happened to be next door.

- Yeah, you called us.

- I was like, I gotta   knock on your door and say,   hey, I'm here.

Can we do it?

Because I wanna get as   many as I can, so yeah.

You were one of the, just happenstances.

- What did you learn about people during this time?

- I probably learned more about my, you know, people say I learned more about myself and I think, I didn't learn a lot about the people because it was 15 minutes.

I mean, I learned where they lived and you know that they all have a dog.

- But you stared at their faces.

- Yeah.

- You know, 'cause you were taking multiple frames.

- Everyone was happy.

Everyone was happy.

And they were probably happy because there was something happening, like I was there, something is happening.

But the pictures I chose to share had that stoic look.

And even though that's the one that I shared because I was trying to just convey like, this is how we really all feel at two in the morning in the bathroom alone.

You know, like we're scared, we're not frightened all day long, but we're definitely nervous about this.

And like that was just kind of conveyed the vibe of what I thought the world might be feeling, even not just the country or this city.

But there are just as many pictures of all of these people smiling and laughing and having fun.

And in the private link they got all those were there.

I just chose to share the ones that were conveying what I thought, what I wanted to convey.

But what I learned about, you know, I think really it's the, I just learned more and more and more about inequality and how privilege and things like that.

I would go see these people that were happy at home because they were making more money than they'd ever made.

Getting, you know, some of them $850 a week from, the government assistance or they already worked from home and they were fine.

And they felt like, hey, I was set up for this.

And then I would go to the grocery store and the checker would be in Kroger without a mask because it took a while for them to catch up, you know, for the masks weren't even available in the beginning.

And those people just had to go to work.

I think it was the contrast of seeing people in their homes all day and then seeing people that never quit working.

Like that kind of thing was like, yeah, it's always been that way.

Right.

Not to bring it down.

- No, no.

But did you get some essential worker pictures at some point?

- Oh yeah.

There were definitely, I mean these aren't labeled, you know, I wish I could put names and places and all kinds of information on every one of these pictures that are hanging in the show, but that would've taken me a year, you know, like to get all the spellings correctly and get the things right.

But there are nurses and doc-, I mean, most of these people were scheduled when they signed up, they would tell us the day they were available.

They didn't just, some of them said any day we're home, but a lot of them were like, we got their occupation.

We knew what they did, and we put a lot of people, a little maybe ahead of the line.

If we knew like, oh, this person's a nurse, this is their only day off.

So we need to get to their house today.

And there's one of a person   in a T-Rex blow up outfit   that's in here somewhere.

- Oh yeah, I saw that one.

- And that was a nurse   who would walk her dog   in that to make the kids   in the neighborhood laugh.

So every one of them   have some kind of story.

I got information about   every single one of them,   but yeah, there were plenty,   there was infectious disease   doctors that do the research at   St. Jude, I   photographed, you know,   those types of people from   people that worked in warehouse and people that worked at FedEx and they were, you know, so some of them were all still working.

Not all of these people were just home.

They were scheduled to get their day.

- I walk through these pictures then I see faces that I know and I see faces that I don't know.

And you know, we were talking earlier   before the taping   about the diversity   of the faces that   we see here too.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

That was one of the main   goals too, is to try to   reach out to as many people   that might not even   have social media.

By the time we got into May,   I was talking to professors   at the universities and people   that worked at schools, at high   schools and other places to,   to send the message   out to reach people   that might not   have a smartphone   or might not have social media   'cause a lot of people   do that on purpose.

And a lot of people do it   because they don't   have the option.

And so there, you know, that   was starting to get momentum,   being introduced to people   outside of maybe the connection   that I had with people   on social media.

And, and then it, that was,   I could have gone on a year.

But things changed   in the world.

Things changed in the weather   and you know, it was just, it was time to quit.

Physically, I couldn't do it anymore.

It was just, I was just getting too worn out mentally and physically.

So at June 8th was like, yeah, you've gotta stop or you're gonna have a wreck.

- I think that's really interesting though, because you, you know, it feels like a lot of times it, social media is telling you like this is everybody, this is what everybody thinks, but it's really not.

It's an extension of your network.

And then which builds in biases, you know, to a certain extent for the information that... - Oh true.

I mean there's plenty of posts on social media, which I, you know, this stuff like this made me think about the common people say, well, if you're from Memphis, you know these things and they'll take pictures of things around Memphis that everybody knows, and it's like, no, not everybody knows those things.

It's like you lived in that neighborhood or, or you worked and you have a car.

So you drove down Union every day, so you see this Sputnik thing or you see the other stuff, but man, not everybody sees the same stuff.

So just, it can get very tribal.

- Yeah.

It can, but I commend you for trying to reach out, for recognizing that and trying to reach outside.

So tell us how this exhibit came to be then.

- Well, Crosstown Arts really supported me.

I was working for Crosstown Arts.

When we closed, I was running the shared arts space that they have, which is an amazing space and it shut down.

And there were many members   that no longer had   access to that.

So, you know, we all went home   and we have a 44-inch   Epson printer that   printed every one of these.

Crosstown Arts funded   the ink and the paper.

I printed them all, but   they paid for all of that.

And I was also like on their   payroll kind of when I was   shooting all of this   and I would be talking,   I would talk to my bosses   here and say, look,   this is what I'm doing.

And this was the plan from the   very beginning, in my mind,   I was like, you guys   are supporting me.

I would love when this   is over, when we can,   to have all of these   pictures in the gallery here   and have these people,   see these people again.

I said, it might be five years.

It might be whatever, I   don't know what it would be.

And we're still kind of,   we're not having a reception because when we planned this in January, when we started the pick, when we picked the date in January, everyone was sick with Omicron.

So it was, we thought we can't announce an opening in February because it would just seem a little reckless, especially for a quarantine exhibit.

But we're planning to hopefully have a closing reception in April.

So that would be that's April 10th or somewhere near there.

We'll figure it out.

But yeah, so they were really supportive.

So, that's why it's in these galleries is because, you know, this is where I was connected for the last four years.

I no longer work here, but I still do freelance photography work for the Concourse building and Crosstown Arts and you know, whatever else comes along.

- Yeah.

So you're putting some of these photos   in a book, right?

- Yes.

The book will have one   image of every person   or family that was shot.

So it will be a 250-page   hardbound book   and it will have   at least one image   of every single family.

- So what do you   have for the future?

- Actually, I'm looking, I'm supposed to meet today,   Craig Brewer and I are,   and Jodi Brewer are working   on a studio space to share,   so it, but it has   to be built out.

So that could be six weeks.

That could be, I don't know, two months or more, depends on how long that takes.

But yeah, the plan is to open up, just kind of a basic photo studio, not in the style of Amurica across the street, the old studio, 'cause that was really more an event space that was shared and used to rent out.

This would just be more of a studio space.

And see where it goes from there, 'cause I've never really had a clean, you know, it's always been junked up.

So we'll, you know, the plan is to just see what happens with a clean slate in another direction and yeah.

See what happens.

- And you gonna take Amurica back out?

- The photo booth?

- Yeah.

- It has been out periodically for private events in the past month of just, just a couple days ago.

So it's still, I mean the website still has it where you can book it for things because we can show up and wear masks and I've gotten to the point where, you know, it's gotten where like you do what you do.

It's a little safer, you know, I don't feel, if the people hire me don't have a problem, I don't have a problem.

I can keep myself protected if I want.

So yeah, it's still there.

It's still moving, it's just not open to the public.

Like at Overton, you know, at places-- - You had it at Overton Square.

- We used to sit out at Overton Square and places like that.

But that also got just a little tough on me, you know, like standing out there 'til midnight.

You know, and so we're inside the Concourse building when we are open to the public.

That's usually 'cause it's sheltered.

They have a huge atrium.

They've been wonderful to me and you know, been able to work out where I can bring it inside and use it there.

But we haven't really done it a lot because it's just, it's still been like just when you think you're ready to go, something happens and everybody gets shut down again.

So it's still the timing has just been off for that.

But it still exists and it's still around.

- Well, Jamie Harmon, thank you so much for taking time with us today and showing us around these photographs and thank you for documenting Memphis at a really strange and unique time.

- Thanks for having me.

[upbeat blues music] [acoustic guitar chords]