From: Shannon Stoney (sstoney@pdq.net)
Date: 09/24/02-01:40:54 PM Z
Ross wrote:
>I suppose all lurkers eventually find their voice! Mark Nelson's "ethical
>issues" are, of course, not "boring" although I beg the indulgence of the
>alt photography list for following up with a non alt query.
>
>Mark's note brings to my mind the remarkable collaboration between walker
>Evans and James Agee, "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men." This book epitomises
>integrity to me, albeit via Agee's objectivity (not forgetting the bed
>bugs!)
From what I've read about this book, Evans was not always comfortable
with what Agee wrote. For example, Agee had a serious crush on one
of the young women they were living with and photographing, and he
talked about her in a rather lascivious way in the book. Also, while
the people were away working, he went through their drawers and
things. Evans thought this was an invasion of their privacy, and I
agree.
Also, it seems that the people consented to be photographed because
they thought the photographs would draw attention to their problems,
and cause somebody to do something about their poverty. Indirectly
this did happen, eventually, but they expected more help personally
than they got.
If you are interested in this issue, you might want to look at a book
called Dustbowl Descent. I don't know the author right now, but he
found many of the folks that were in those Farm Security
Administration pictures and asked them how the pictures had affected
their lives. He also rephotographed them. It's a wonderful document
and on the whole a hopeful one, as many of the people who were in bad
shape in the thirties went on to lead happier, more prosperous lives.
--shannon
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