Inspired by some of what I took at Local Roots farms last fall, I set out to experiment a little more with the theme. This is the first of what will likely become a series. (I only wish I had a better macro. Oh, well…) 
It’s amazing how tirelessly you can work when you are truly drawn into something. Since posting them in color, I have been converting all 98 photos from the Kidron series into black and white.
And, as the pros out there can attest to, there is no cookie-cutter approach to digital black and white – even when you’re using such an awesome tool like Silver Efex Pro (I can’t believe I used to do this the long way…).
Anyway.
I like them better in black and white. What’s your take?
Thank God for the gift of time. One of the projects I was working on last year was one with a subject that I have been living closeby of for years. But just like everything else – if it’s readily available, it’s the last thing on your mind. Or something you don’t think of for a photo project.
I have been at the Kidron Livestock Auction a number of times with visitors, and we did what everybody does when they get there. We took the usual touristy pictures. My daughter calls those “touron shots”.
Yet, as my mind was wandering one day this past summer, it occurred to me that one reason those kinds of photos are not only boring, but hopelessly stereotypical is that they always a) focus on the Amish, as if this were some kind of a zoo, and b) thereby either mostly romanticize or sometimes actually villify their subject.
Most people don’t see this place for what it is: a microcosm of the local economy, full of hard-working and down-to-earth people. There are of course the Amish, their “English” counterparts, who come there to auction off and buy livestock. There are the peddlers and vendors, the hotdog cart and the Asians selling cheap plastic items of all kinds. There are the busloads of tourons. And there was me. And so here is my version of Ohio rural street photography, all taken over the last five months within the same block around the Kidron Auction.
I was interested mostly in interactions between different people, but also in their individual state of being.
Something I’ve been thinking about the last few weeks is whether some photographs were meant to find certain people. I know that sounds rather metaphysical, but it’s the best I can come up with in light of a few interesting encounters I’ve had over the last few months.
First, we raffled off a smaller version of this photo at our local coffee shop.
A guy I’ve known for a few years – he’s both a musician and a painter – fell totally in love with it. Well, a few people have been in love with it, but he kept going on and on about how much he loved this photo. He of course put his name in the hat, but told me he had never won anything in his life. And wouldn’t you know it, he actually won the thing. No, they all swore it wasn’t rigged!
Yes, he could have bought the photograph off of me, and it would naturally have been nice to make some money. Yet, I am happy this picture went to someone so attached to it.
Then a few months later, a friend of ours saw this photo at Local Roots. It happens to feature his son’s arms.
He actually teared up when he saw it and told me those were his father’s arms. It was really moving. He apparently tried to take a photo of the photo on the easel even. Again, yes, he could have bought it.
I WAS going to give him a copy of it for his birthday next year (he’ll turn 84), but fate would have it otherwise. We again raffled off a small version of it, this time at Local Roots. The person who ended up winning it turned out to be his wife’s niece, and she told me today she wants him to have it. He was basically beside himself when I called him. No, again the drawing wasn’t rigged.
I think it was just meant to be. So, can photographs find you?
