David Hurn - Arizona Trips

His documentary photographs are distinguished by their quiet observation and remarkable insight. “Life as it unfolds in front of the camera is full of so much complexity, wonder and surprise that I find it unnecessary to create new realities,” he writes. “There is more pleasure, for me, in things as they are.” Released to coincide with Magnum photo agency’s 70th birthday, this is the first book dedicated to Hurn’s photographs from Arizona. In 1979–80 he was awarded a UK/USA Bicentennial Fellowship, a one-year award to photograph in America. He chose Arizona, as “the most right-wing state in America, plus it is the driest state in America. The exact opposite of my home country Wales. The contrasts appealed to me.” Hurn fell in love with Arizona and made several trips back between 1979 and 2001, turning his inimitable eye to ordinary Arizonians in their daily life, their schools, exercise classes, holidays and their landscape.