Ten years go by, you have kids, and you get healthier,’ he says. ‘And at some point I revisited the negatives and, lo and behold, the photographs I had only dreamed of taking all lay in front of me. The photographs ended up being the pictures I thought I’d failed to take, the work I thought had never existed—because I was no longer looking at them as mirrors. It’s absolutely beautiful and almost incomprehensible how that worked, how over time you feel yourself heal inside, and the work takes on a completely different nature than it had at the time.
Washington City Paper profiles Joe Mills, urban photographer and one-time giant-pumpkin-grower. His work is now on display at
the Corcoran.