Jeff Evans is a Midwest-based photographer.

When Jeff Evans discovered that his job as a rocket scientist wasn’t as exciting as he thought it was going to be, he took photography classes as a creative outlet. Soon he was going to photo exhibits and collecting hundreds of photo books to learn more. But he found the best way of learning to take good pictures was just taking lots of pictures, lots and lots of bad pictures.

When he moved from the spectacular – and spectacularly expensive -- scenery of northern California to the flat, boring farmland of central Illinois, he was at a loss as to what to photograph. However, managers at various jobs had inadvertently given him an appreciation of the absurd and debugging software had taught him to notice things that were out of place or unusual. He combined these qualities in photos of everyday things that appear normal at first glance, but are absurd.

He has shown his photos in Britain, Germany, Italy and throughout the United States.

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Artist Statement:

These are absurd, yet dire, times we live in. Donald Trump is president of the United States again, but wants to be a dictator.  Politicians and judges let him do whatever he wants, including breaking every law imaginable, just so they don't have to witness an 80-year-old man throw a tantrum.   As if that isn’t enough, there’s also frequent and intense disasters, a measles epidemic and rising inflation. People try to go about their lives as if everything’s normal, but it’s not.

For over a dozen years I’ve taken photos of everyday subjects that appear normal at first glance, but at second glance are out of the ordinary and absurd. Much like the “new normal” post-COVID, Trumpian times we live in, these photos taken 60 miles from Normal, Illinois are far from normal.