© Chris Jordan

I’m on the road in Durham, North Carolina making some photos for a magazine and, having a little time to myself this morning, I stopped by the North Carolina Museum of Art just down the road in Raleigh. My top reason for going was the BIG picture, an exhibit that just opened featuring “twenty-three large-scale photographs by a diverse group of thirteen contemporary photographers who are expanding the size and pushing the boundaries of their medium.”

One of the artists featured in the exhibition is Chris Jordan. Three of his images from the Intolerable Beauty series are on display and they are nothing short of amazing in their size, scope, and execution.

There were groups of field-tripping pre-teen schoolchildren wandering about the museum. While I stood and gazed at Jordan’s photos, three separate groups of children approached the photo pictured above, titled “Cell phones, Orlando 2004″ (and measuring about 44×82 inches).

Their reactions were as interesting and poignant as the photo itself.

The first group of kids wondered if there were any Razr phones in the fray. The next group got excited when one kid spotted a Nokia phone just like his own. The third group pointed out the phones they thought were cool-looking or liked best. It was as if they were looking through a catalog instead of a trash heap.

There was an innocence in their appreciation of Jordan’s photograph that I envied. The kids looked at the photo and saw fun and cool gadgets. I looked at the photo and was overwhelmed by guilt, irresponsibility, and a desire for responsibility.