He’s met more barbers than barbers have met, really. “No one has done what he’s done before with documenting barbershops. So, I started looking around and found a lot of beautiful shops.”īack in cities like Long Beach, California, Hammer stumbled upon Syndicate Barbershop and its owner Tim Trezise, 36.īarber and owner Tim Trezise at Syndicate Barbershop “Once I got my head out of my ass, I realized that the recent barber boom has produced a lot of creative guys who are passionate about carrying on the old traditions. He said, now that he stepped away from his own “stubborn ignorance,” his project finally feels complete. Over the past two years, I continued shooting the old timers while also putting more of a focus on the ‘next generation’ of barbers across the country.” “The first book was entirely made up of old-school shops with only a small handful of the younger guys in the back,” Hammer said. However, the travels for his second book rerouted away from middle America, where he found some new-school barbers that were changing the game and his mind. When he first started his project, Hammer was convinced there was only one type of barbershop worth preserving: the old-school traditional style. The biggest change from then to now is Hammer’s perspective on barbers. The world needs more people like Kenneth.” Lessons learned along the way When you listen to him talk, you understand that he would be lost with it. “His continued passion for barbering is unreal. “He answered my questions in such an honest way that you just don’t get from most people,” Hammer said. While photographing barbershops in more rural areas, Hammer found that “things are much simpler and move at a much slower pace.” He said the locals were good people who were proud of where they came from and “very happy to share what comes from their home.” The lives behind the photographsīarber Kenneth at Cuts and Bends Barbershop in Oakland, California He believes the world sees “a distorted view of American life,” glamorized in television shows that focus on the struggles of navigating big cities like Los Angeles and New York. Being in these places shows you how differently people live.” “This has allowed me to see parts of this country that most people never do, towns that might not be on a map but would be looked over even if they were. “My goal was to spend as much time off the highways and out of cities as possible,” Hammer said. His search was for the hidden gems, not the places he said “exist on places like Facebook or Yelp.” Traveling over 85,000 miles by car with his dog and his camera for the project, Hammer soon realized he had to abandon his online research and let the road lead him to the perfect destinations. Looking back at the project, the man behind the camera said it was “collectively one of the greatest learning experiences of my life.” Photo via Instagram / the time, he had just put out the first edition of his photo collection “Barbershops of America.”Ĭatching up with Hammer, 38, nearly two years later, “Barbershops of America” has now released a second edition: “Then and Now.”
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