Halpern spent hours photographing his subjects—almost all custodians or food service workers—“until they really got sick of me,” he jokes.

“I guess I liked the uniformity of that,” he says, explaining why he chose to limit his subject matter. “And statistically, those are the two lowest paid positions on campus, with a few exceptions.”

The project took him four years to complete, beginning in the spring of 1999 and ending only a few months ago. Halpern says he has photographed “hundreds” of different Harvard workers.

He has also photographed objects and He has also photographed objects and scenes that signify the workplace. “Visually, I felt it was important to keep people guessing, or awake,” he says.

One photograph depicts a bag of soda cans hanging next to a custodian’s trash can, which she had planned to use for her own profit. Another shows an empty basement of the Harvard Business School that is lit very brightly in order to keep workers awake, according to Halpern.

Halpern plans to compile 65 of his photographs in a book, also titled Harvard Works Because We Do, to be published in October. The book will include edited transcripts of his interviews with 15 workers, which he refers to as “narratives.”

“I liked the idea of these people, who didn’t get to be in the spotlight that much, [on] their podium talking,” he says of why he chose to include only the words of the workers and none of his own.

The Only Thing To Do

Though he was interested in photography at an early age, Halpern says he only thought of it as a hobby at first.

“I think my parents wanted me to think of it as a hobby,” he laughs. “When I graduated, I was really stumped as to what to do with myself, and I was lucky enough to get a small grant to Buffalo and take pictures.

“Ultimately, I came back here and decided this was the only thing I really, really wanted to do.”

He says he was intrigued by the photographs of Milton Rogovin, who shot the lower west side of Buffalo, a working-class neighborhood.

And a text-based book, Studs Terkel’s Working, was a major conceptual influence.

“It was people talking about their jobs, the psychological effects of work and what work does to them,” he says. “It really made me curious about people working at Harvard.”

Halpern cites Walker Evans and Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies Chris Killip, under whom he served as a teaching fellow, as additional photographic inspirations.