Camp: Creating Summer

The thought of summer camp as a youth recalls very specific memories for me. For eight summers in my teens and early 20’s I worked as a member of the Quivira Scout Ranch Summer Camp Staff. I could say that these were formative years, but that seems to fall short of the impact those summers had on me as I was growing up. The Staff became another family for me and I still count many of those friends amongst my closest. As with all such experiences though, there came a time when I had to stop returning every summer and thoughts of summer camp began to take up residence in nostalgia. Years later, when the son of my good friend and long-time tent partner went to QSR to follow in his Dad’s footsteps, I found a reason to go back.  

Returning to QSR proved to be a trip back into my own memories, while also feeling like I was meeting my descendants. Somehow, the Staff that was working there, although almost entirely unknown to me at the time, still knew who my friend and I were. Admittedly, it was like being the subject of someone’s story about their great-great grandfather. Regardless, it was like being accepted back into a family after a long absence. As I got to know everyone, I became increasingly impressed with the staff who were in the difficult years of deciding if it was time for them to move on, just as I had done. They stayed for the same reasons I had stayed, and struggled with the “real world” pulling them away.  

The following summer I returned with a 4x5 view camera and a portable tin-type darkroom. I wanted to photograph these dedicated and amazing individuals who gave up their summers to create an experience for Scouts that was full of growth, positivity and safety, just as I had done. Each image needed to be unique, just as they are, and be infused with my own feeling of history and nostalgia for the camp they also dearly love. Moving around an antique camera and an ice fishing tent didn’t hurt a conversation starter either as I got to know their stories of creating summer.