Meet Shaela, the photographer and Virginia native who, for the past 5 years, has photographed nothing but the rare nocturnal rolling cheeseburgers of her native state, sometimes spending as long as 14 hours crouched motionless in the roadside bushes to get a single photograph.
‘The rolling cheeseburgers of northern Virginia are extremely shy,’ Shaela told The Gorko. ‘They only come out at night, and only if they are sure they are alone, which is why it is so difficult to capture them in their natural environment.’
For Shaela, the rolling cheeseburgers hold an ‘artistic and architectural’ interest that has fascinated her since childhood.
‘When I was six I recall I snuck up on a herd of double beef patty rolling cheeseburgers in the country lane behind my aunt’s house outside of Culpeper,’ she said. ‘I was upwind and was able to follow them for more than an hour as they rolled along with their phosphorecent sauces, ketchup and dijon mustard stripes on barbecue pelts.’
In many of the photographs, due to Shaela’s preference for time exposures and ambient lighting, the actual cheeseburger is not visible.
Cover and yellow slicker photos by William Daigneault.
Time exposure highway photo by Jake Blucker on Unsplash