Dave Pires

Followers of Swampsterbate,

First and foremost I want to thank every single one of you that cared enough to question me about the death of this site. I continue to be amazed by the number of people I have touched. Whether or not you believed me when I told you that it would be back is irrelevant, because we are officially LIVE.

When I was in school, I started Swampsterbate as a daily writing exercise, and it’s no coincidence that the last post is dated the week I finished my studies. I didn’t intend for it to be that way, but from the start this project has had a life of its own. For me to continue Swampsterbate beyond its original mandate, it had to evolve, but I had no idea what it needed to become.

This summer I was fortunate enough to drive solo 22,000 km around North America, and somewhere between New Orleans and New York I realized I wanted to develop an outlet for every one of my passions. Since I stopped posting earlier this year, my photos have been homeless, and it wasn’t hard to realize that their home has always been Swampsterbate.

I firmly believe the world does not need another photo blog. I also firmly believe that the world does not need another photographer. But I don’t consider myself to be a photographer. I just take photos. And I don’t consider Swampsterbate to be a photo blog. It’s a story.

Tomorrow the story will pick up where I left off last April. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to share my photos with each of you, because after all, you are part of this story too.

- DP