TRACES A small town A night gone wrong And all that’s left are… “Traces” “Once upon a time…” is a time-honored signal we’re about to hear a story. Pictures tell stories too, and if a picture is really worth a thousand words, much of the work of this dark urban fairy tale is done. Walking through the neighborhood some time ago, I discovered a doll head in the road. I photographed it. Subsequent walks became a search for new ‘traces.’ I was not disappointed. An interesting collection of photographs of local flotsam and jetsam developed. All of these were photographed exactly as found, without arrangement or manipulation. I couldn’t get these images out of my head. Although not originally connected to one another, the doll heads, in juxtaposition with images connected to various vices, triggered an idea. That idea became a short story, told in images and captions. It is not a happy one. Blanks in the narrative are yours to fill. Morals of this story are yours to surmise.