January 22

Kayla Vahling

Video Response 1

1/22/11

Shelby Lee Adams

            As I watched the documentary on the photography of Shelby Lee Adams in Appalachia I found my opinion of him and his work constantly changing.  I think that my indecision was largely based on how well done the documentary was.  The film showed people who both appreciated praised Adams’ work as well as those who strongly disagreed with it.

            Seeing the documentary, and how Adams staged his photographs greatly changed how I saw them.  The film opened with a slide show of his photos of the people of Appalachia, and though it was obvious he had the families come out of their homes and take the photo they did not seem as staged as they actually were.  I was actually a little bit disappointed to find out how set up the photos were, from where people stood to the expressions on their faces.  One of the commentators mentioned that the photos do not show the beauty of the people, which I agreed with.  In many of the photos, the subjects’ somber faces expressed what looked to me like sadness and discontent with their situations.  The film clips from the archives however, showed the families that Adams photographed rather happy with their lives in Appalachia.  This originally had me thinking that the photos that Adams publishes are not true representations of the lives and personalities, and that they actually added to the stereotypes that the people of eastern Kentucky face.

            After seeing the last segment of the film with the family who has two mentally retarded children, my thoughts on his work changed again.  I thought it was important for the viewers of the photographs to understand that Adams had been friends with the family for years and years.  Understanding that he was truly close to the families that he photographed made the photographs seem more personal and moving.