In the Florida panhandle, a man shoved a thin metal pole into the earth. He rubbed another pole against the first, sending vibrations into the dirt and causing earthworms to surface.
Dropping the poles, the man nabbed as many worms as possible before they figured out the plot and squirmed to safety. He packaged the worms and sold them to bait shops, and in this way, the man carved out a living.
Golden resident Christine Hauber was there to capture him on the job. For three and a half years, she did nothing but travel around the United States capturing hundreds of working people for her Working in the USA photography project.
A portrait photographer in Jefferson County, Hauber risked it all to pursue her dream project. She’s been home for a year now, fine-tuning her work and compiling the shots into a book, “Working in the USA.”
A former Lakewood resident who attended Wheat Ridge High School, Hauber had graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado and was working within her passion for years before dissatisfaction began seeping into her work.
“I did enjoy it, but it got monotonous, and it got to this point where I had this dream of seeing the country,” she said. “I’d been overseas, and I thought, ‘I keep visiting these other countries, and I haven’t even traveled my own.”
The desire to explore the United States was paired with a frustration with the media and their portrayal of Americans.
“They make our lives seem so simple and beautiful,” she said. “Everyone is living in nice apartments, driving nice cars. The people are skinny and pretty. It’s so material. I wanted to really capture the reality of the American people.”
Her desire grew, but her bank account didn’t. Hauber kept waiting until one day her father asked if she would ever feel financially ready.
That was it. Hauber stocked up on credit cards, bought a recreational vehicle and a dog to keep her company, packed up her cat named Ansel Adams (after the photographer) and left.
“It was our dream that she accomplish something that none of the rest of us were able to take the chance to do,” said Barb Hauber, Christine’s mother. “All of us said, ‘You’re not getting any younger, you might as well do it now. You’ll never have this experience again.”
Hauber was on the road during the Sept. 11 attacks and noticed skepticism grew toward those wielding a camera.
She traversed the country shooting just one person in each profession to keep her bias out of the book. She didn’t discriminate, shooting blue- and white-collar workers, corporate employees and the self-employees.
“This is a passion and dedication that I haven’t seen in anybody,” Barb Hauber said. “A lot of people would have just given up when it got tough, but nope, she just said she was going to keep going. It was very difficult for her to quit. She just fell in love with the people.”
Since then, some have passed away — a silversmith with a long beard and an oil producer, who went to work every day well into his 90s.
“Rarely did I get turned down — only in corporate America. There was a paranoia there,” Christine Hauber said. “My perception was that the more control people have about their work, the happier they are. It’s more important than how much money they make. The most discontent worked for the big corporations. They never felt their contribution made that much of a difference.”
More than three years after she started, Hauber had run out of new faces with original occupations. She was done with her journey.
“I love the book, and I loved being out there,” she said. “I’m not bored of them. It still fascinates me. I worked hard on the road doing what I love to do. I miss being out there, but I don’t miss the search.”