For the last six years my family and I have been traveling all over the country photographing and interviewing people who decided to leave the conveniences of city life behind and build a new chapter in the rural reaches. The people we've met and the stories we've heard have inspired and informed our own decisions when it comes to building a sustainable, self-sufficient, and creative life in the country.
I have always yearned to add an audio element so that my features can tell their story in their own words. In late 2019, I began the process of developing our first podcast series. For the first season we reached out mostly to folks that we photographed and interviewed early in the project to see what they've been up to since our visit. We did a teaser test episode where we started at the beginning to give a little background on my own journey to the country, how this project began, what I've learned from it, and my plans for the future.
Our first full season will launch in the summer of 2020. I planned to launch the podcast this April (the five year anniversary of the project). All of our interviews wrapped in February and we were into the production phase when Covid-19 turned everything upside down. I just couldn't bring myself to launch the original interviews without first trying to revisit with everyone and hear how they are coping, how their community is coming together, how their rurally based businesses are adapting and talk about their hopes/fears for the future. This is a pivotal moment in history and it felt completely wrong to launch these original interviews and ignore the altered reality and uncertain future that all of us are coping with right now.
If you are interested in sponsoring a season or episode please feel free to reach out via email and we will send you a sponsorship packet with more information. Thank you for being a part of the Urban Exodus community.
