The title, from a poem by former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky about the area of New Jersey where he and Tyler Haughey grew up, speaks to the book’s vernacular interest and connection to place. The son of a union sign painter, Haughey has been drawn to roadside architecture and signage since childhood; a native of the Jersey Shore, he is influenced by the seasonal economy and off-season vacancy of a tourist destination. Photographed mostly in the empty winter months, the images exude a human presence through absence. Inspired by John McPhee, architect Andrew Geller and photographers Gregory Conniff and George Tice, the book centres on Ebb Tide, his series on the mid-century modern motels of The Wildwoods, introduced by Adam Giles Ryan of SFMOMA.