Sleeping giants: Haunting black and white images of New Jersey 18-Wheelers when their engines finally fall silent




During the day, these enormous trucks of the roads cover thousands of miles criss-crossing the U.S.

Now these resting giants have been captured at night in an eerie series examining sleep and sleeplessness.

Fine art photographer Michael Massaia suffers from insomnia and wanted to focus on truckers because they go for long periods without sleep.

Mr Massaia told Wired: 'When truckers see black dogs scampering across the highway, they know to pull over and get some sleep.'

The photographer used a 60lb large format camera for the series along the New Jersey turnpike.



All the pictures in the black and white series, called Seeing The Black Dog, were captured by the New Jersey photographer between 2am and 6am.



Mr Massaia told the website: 'Sleeplessness is one of the problems I've had in life. It's where the connection for the series lay.

'You can be quite productive when you don't sleep for four days.'



Michael Massaia took the haunting pictures of the 18-Wheelers along the New Jersey turnpike

Photographer said he was interested in the subject as truckers go for long periods without sleep

Massaia took all the pictures between 2am and 6am when the truckers finally went to sleep



The photographer said he was able to be extra productive because he can go up to four days without sleeping

This image captures smoke rising in the distance as the trucker beds down for the night

The photographer said he feared being confronted if any of the truckers woke up to find him taking their picture

But he said no one ever noticed him working along the New Jersey turnpike with his 60lb camera

Some truckers found shelter along the turnpike to park their 18-Wheelers for the night while others just fell asleep at the side of the road

Mr Massaia went out in all weathers to capture the dormant trucks and snow can be seen in the foreground of this picture

The series is called Seeing The Black Dog after the phrase used by truckers when they start hallucinating because of sleep deprivation

When truckers see black dogs scampering across the road, they know they need to sleep, the photographer said

As well as the 18-Wheelers, Mr Massaia has also studied other dormant scenes, including closed fair grounds