Jesse Lenz depicts childhood freedom and serenity amongst nature

In his latest title, The Locusts, Jesse Lenz transports us to his home in rural Ohio

After years of traveling through the US in an airstream with his wife and three sons, Jesse Lenz decided to settle down. He moved into a farmhouse in rural Ohio, and began photographing his children, exploring their new home and the wildlife that surrounds it. Lenz’s monochrome images depict freedom and serenity: children running through wheat fields, building fortresses in the attic, doing somersaults in the backyard, and exploring thorny woodlands where insects, racoons, and bird species reside. 

His latest photobook, The Locusts, presents this microcosmic world, where plants, animals, and children coexist, detached from the cruel world that churns before them. Within the cycles of nature, and the shifting seasons, they are protected, by a childhood innocence that prioritises joy and healing, over the imperfections of life.

The Locusts by Jesse Lenz is published by Charcoal Press, and also available to order as part of Charcoal Book Club’s book of the month.