Arizona-born photographer Mike Brodie left home at 17 to photograph what is now press-dubbed “the train-hopping and squatter subculture,” although, that sounds rather silly, really. It’s not a “subculture.” It’s the way these people live. Always moving. Never stopping.
Check out Brodie aka Polaroid Kid’s book A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, out March 25th.
But I needed to find out for myself. Two weeks later I was gone, witnessing my new world wizz by, especially at dusk, then darkness as I watched the sum of all the city lights cast my silhouette across the pine trees of the Florida panhandle. This was it, I was riding my very first freight train. And soon, what would begin as mere natural curiosity and self-discovery would evolve into a casting call of sorts, taking photographs of my newfound friends.
