Ohio Photographer Spends 15 Years With One Family. He Says His Plan Wasn’t Done – West Virginia Public Broadcasting

This discussion originally appeared on the March 29, 2026 episode of Inside Appalachia.

At the end of last year, New York Times published a guest essay titled, “Evidence Action in Appalachia.” It describes photographer Maddie McGarvey and Paige Casto’s relationship with her family. McGarvey was a sophomore studying photojournalism at Ohio University 15 years ago when he decided to document grandparents raising their grandchildren. A social worker in Athens, Ohio connected him with the Casto family, and he has been photographing them ever since.

Now, McGarvey is a freelance photographer New York Times covering the Rust Belt and Appalachia.

Inside Appalachia Friendship creator Abby Neff spoke with McGarvey about her relationship with Paige Casto and how it has changed since they first met.

The text below has been edited slightly for clarity.

Neff: I’m looking at a photo right now of Paige looking down at swallowtail butterflies. The caption reads, “Paige chases butterflies outside her grandmother’s house.” I wanted to ask the meaning of this photo and what made it come alive for you, and why it is featured in this story.

McGarvey: So, this photo might be the first or second time I’ve met Paige. He was probably three or four years old here and he was very impressed. They lived on a worm. There is no cell service, but with a lot of natural beauty around them. There would be streams and hills with flowers. We would pick flowers and walk barefoot. And at this moment, Paige almost bent down and looked at the group of butterflies that were nearby. – I don’t even know what they were groping for. But he was good, … he had a childlike wonder. And he was three or four years old… he is representative of the beginning of our relationship together and I caught him and how he looked at the world throughout these different years.

Neff: Can you tell me about your first meeting with Paige and her family?

McGarvey: Yes. So, I originally started this project when I was a sophomore at Ohio University, and I noticed that there was a growing trend for grandparents to raise their grandchildren. This was around 2009, so many families were affected by the opioid crisis. There was a lot of uncertainty, mental illness, you know, all those kinds of issues going on. And I met a social worker who wrote on a piece of paper, “Lorrie Casto, I am raising my three grandchildren” and a phone number. And I remember when I was 19 years old and I didn’t really know what I was doing in any case, but I was very scared to make this call. But Lorrie said, you know, “Come here. Sure, you can write our lives.” And it started this kind of good relationship that lasted for the next 15 years. So when I first went to the trailer where they lived, I noticed these three blonde kids running around in the yard, and, you know, Paige was three or four years old at the time, and she immediately wanted to know about me, and I was curious about her, and that was kind of the beginning of our relationship.

Neff: The anecdotes you share about Castos New York Times flowers are soft and hard. The night Paige’s siblings are sent to daycare, she calls you. What was that time like in your relationship with Paige?

McGarvey: Yeah, I think I’ve known Paige since she was three years old, and this happened last year when she was 18, it ended. – you know, it’s like I’ve known them all my life. It wasn’t a surprise at all that he reached out to me, and I’m glad I could be a stable person in his life to do so. But you know, it was – it is sad to see him struggling so much and to see his family separated. It’s not necessarily anyone’s fault. There are so many factors that go into these children ending up in foster care, but it’s not easy for a sister who loses the siblings she’s had all her life. Yes, it’s hard, and it’s hard to watch, but it’s also been kind of inspiring to see how he’s managing this as he grows up and becomes a young person.

Neff: How did this project challenge the “stranger with a camera” that seems to hold in Appalachia?

McGarvey: That’s a really good question. I think what makes you not a “tourist with a camera” is spending a lot of time with these people, and I think it’s very important that people don’t parachute into places like Appalachia or anywhere and expect to understand all the complex history of a place without spending time and effort. And I think that’s important, and I take that seriously. That is why, I think, I have committed myself to doing this project for 15 years. And I have no plans to stop as long as they will be with me. But you know, I think you’re always a stranger, and hopefully, with these connections and trust and time, it’s going to be great and great.

Neff: How are Paige and her siblings doing now?

McGarvey: They work well. You know, Paige is getting married in the spring. He moved to another part of Ohio, living with his caretaker. He got a job in a factory. You know, he’s investigating things. I think he is eager to start his own family, even though he is still very young. I think he really wants to give the child the love that he probably didn’t always love when he was growing up. And I will be there to continue writing to him as long as he will be with me. It’s just – Thank you so much for the trust and the family, you know, giving this stranger a chance and kind of growing into something so wonderful that I never knew would have happened after being a 19-year-old kid at OU making the phone call all those years ago. It’s a testament to the power of photography and the kind of relationships you can find in this world, through curiosity and trying to understand your neighbors better.

Neff: You have a lot of work New York Times and other volunteer projects you’ve done focused on the Rust Belt in Appalachia. What do you want people to take away from the photos you share and shoot, especially in an area with so much negative media coverage?

McGarvey: Yes. I mean I think Ohio, Rust Belt, Appalachia – these are places where people have preconceived ideas [about] but you really catch a lot of nuance. And I’m lucky to travel all over this place and meet people from all walks of life, all backgrounds, different opinions, different jobs, every walk of life to try to show what’s going on here from different perspectives… [Washington] DC and I think to say to them, “Well, I live here in Ohio, and I know these issues, and I care about this place, and I’m not trying to perpetuate stereotypes. And I want to find nuances and I want layers in this place.” I think that goes far beyond hope. And I feel passionate about covering your home and the things that make up your community and the issues that your neighbors care about. It’s just – that is something that is really important to me. So, I feel very fortunate that I live here in Ohio and I’m curious about something on my own, and I can explore it through photography, and hopefully share it with a wider audience and make them understand it in a different way.

Neff: Maddie, thank you so much for talking to me today. I really appreciate it.

McGarvey: Thank you, Abby. I really appreciate your interest.