(photo by Shelby Lee Adams)
The photo is by Shelby Lee Adams. His blog site is a miracle. I am sick with envy over those photographs. The photography, of course, is only part of it. It is the ability to approach the people and to get them to participate in making the photographs that is the absolute talent. As I wrote on Mr. Morehead's site in response to the article, " I look at the photographs and try to imagine Mr. Adams saying, 'Could we get the entire family around the gutted pig? Let’s put grandma up front if it’s OK. She looks so pretty in that dress.'”
The photographs are of a part of America most of us do not encounter fully. For some of us, it is a matter of proximity. For others, it is a matter of selection. And for that reason, the images are exotic, not in the sense that Paul Theroux writes about it in his introduction to the book Exotic Postcards, but rather as the exotic distanced by volition. There is no romanticizing here.
Mr. Adams has captured a part of the American heritage that is, for the most part, ignored. Take a look. I'd be interested in knowing what you think.
I am very familiar with SLA. There is a documentary on him if you are interested called "The True Meaning of Pictures:Shelby Lee Adams'Appalaca. And as for getting the family out by the pig...you got that right with ...'Could we get the entire family around the gutted pig? Let’s put grandma up front if it’s OK. She looks so pretty in that dress.'” As simple as that-direct and to the point.
ReplyDeleteYes, envious is a good word. It's the directness that I envy and haven't been able to achieve. I am descended from the Applachian culture so I definitely agree that this is an important part of our heritage to document.
ReplyDeleteWonderful stuff!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see that part of America - and your's, too - I never get to go anywhere :-)