Crowdsourcing Mornings: Roadside Distractions

By Nathan Young on August 14, 2026

Welcome to the Crowdsourcing Mornings segment! Every weekday morning, Geek Alabama talks about and features one crowdsourcing project from crowdsourcing sites such as, Indiegogo, and others. The hope with Crowdsourcing Mornings is to feature and help a project be successful and reach its fundraising goal. Please enjoy today’s featured project!

Please read our crowdsourcing guidelines at: https://geekalabama.com/media-kit-pr/geek-alabama-crowdsourcing-guidelines

Hi! I’m long-time photojournalist George Olson. As I traveled America on assignment for many magazines, shooting stories in color, I always had my old Leica loaded with black and white Tri-X film, looking for humor along the highways and byways. It was my personal project, and it kept me looking for the light – and the light-hearted.

Quest of the project

A 60-year quest for funny signs on the backroads and main streets of America led to this book. The years have sped along, like today’s travelers, all too rapidly, but I am still finding and making pictures to add to this collection.

My pictures are straightforward even if the humor is sometimes off-kilter. To me, humor is a rare visual form that can elicit a grin or a chuckle, sometimes a guffaw, and I hope you laugh a little as you look at these funny signs.

My career began at the Topeka Capital-Journal, for Rich Clarkson, the photo director who shaped my career, and where I traveled all over the state. I can’t help thinking that growing up in Kansas had a great deal to do with my appreciation of these simple signs.

My first cross-country trip was from Kansas City, to the Long Beach (CA) Grand Prix in 1976. We tried to follow Route 66, but even then it was disappearing. That same year I drove from Kansas City to Watkins Glen, NY for another Grand Prix, along the Lincoln Highway, America’s first transcontinental link. You’ll find images in the book from both those trips!

As of August 14th, this project has raised $5,600 of their $9,000 goal. This project has 32 days left to raise the $9,000 or it will not be funded. For a pledge of $25, you will get one print. For a pledge of $40, you will get one book. To learn more and to pledge money, go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/roadsidedistractions/roadside-distractions?

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!