Sunday, April 9, 2017

family photos from southeastern Kentucky

post #330
       Every once in a while I reach out to share photos by other photographers. Last week, in the great digital photography class at Morehead State that I'm TAKING, I was curious and asked to see Rachel Cook's work for our second project in the class - environmental portraiture. We were assigned to produce 80 photos as contact prints and then choose 6 - 8 of them to print.
        I thought her work was so evocative. It spoke to me. I asked her if I could post some of those photos and she said yes. Thank you, Rachel! 
       The photos were made at her home in Letcher County, Kentucky, over the spring break. They all live in her grandmother's house. It's a special kind of challenge to be making photos in such an intimate location where the people there have to sort of ignore what one member of the family is doing -- to say nothing of how hard it is to work with available light. I know this is the age of everyone taking photos of each other, but to show a slice of family life and family feeling is a whole other accomplishment. At least that's how I see it. Since I have this handy blog, I now hope visitors here can experience this slice as well, including the putting away of groceries and the caring for one another.












      My political plea for the week: the arts are so valuable in expressing who we are and the world we want to have. Please speak up for Arts Funding, and this includes the Kentucky Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Kentucky Educational Television (KET) and our brave and visionary citizen artists, like Rachel and the other members of our photography class. Seek truth and celebrate it.

2 comments:

  1. Wow these are great. It's intimate and I feel like I'm right there.

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  2. Steve is right, this is intimate, like being there in the house. The family feeling is strong and warm.

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