"Just Woods and Dirt" - Roll 125
In the afterword to William Eggleston's seminal The Democratic Forest, he relates this story of going photographing one day:
I was in Oxford, Mississippi for a few days and I was driving out to Holly Springs on a back road, stopping here and there. It was the time of year when the landscape wasn't yet green. I left the car and walked into the dead leaves off the road. It was one of those occasions when there was no picture there. It seemed like nothing, but of course there was something for someone out there. I started forcing myself to take pictures of the earth, where it had been eroded thirty or forty feet from the road. There were a few weeds. I began to realize that soon I was taking some pretty good pictures, so I went further into the woods and up a little hill, and got well into an entire roll of film.
He goes to on discuss, at dinner that night, what he had been doing at that moment:
...someone said, 'What have you been photographing here today, Eggleston?'
Well, I've been photographing democratically,' I replied.
'But what have you been taking pictures of?'
"I've been outdoors, nowhere, in nothing.'
What do you mean?'
Well, just woods and dirt, a little asphalt here and there.'
Eggleston's power is to see any given subject, from clumps of dirt to cityscapes to informal portraits, as though they're on a level playing field—to his eye, everything is equally photographable and interesting.* I appreciate his insight in the passage above; he notes that he forced himself into shooting that day, but also that he quickly found himself enjoying what he was doing, knowing that the work he was making was compelling and worth expending effort for. He couldn't resist the call of the Democratic Forest, any more than I can resist the urge to photograph the Ordered World, and I relate to him strongly in this way. The day I went to Buchanan, despite having shot a roll of film already, I wasn't even able to make it home before I found another subject for this project. Like Eggleston, I was struck by a vision I had while driving through the country, and I was compelled to stop and capture the scene in front of me. The photo I took has nothing particularly notable about it, consisting of a road, some telephone lines, trees, and corn crowding the sides, and two lone street signs at the horizon. Yet there is beauty here, in the bright orange leaves, the motion of the lines leading me to where I can't see, and the way the natural and man-made worlds coexist in the frame. This was only a brief moment in my day, but it pushed me onwards, reminding me that even when I'm not seeking it the Ordered World is out there, permeating everything and waiting for me to find it!
Berrien County, Michigan.
A couple of days later I finished the roll at Fairview Cemetery in Mishawaka, bringing the month and my "Black Flash" week to a close. The day was gorgeous, with golden sunlight and blue sky forming the perfect conditions to complete my set of Mishawaka cemeteries (there are three in this area, and I'd already photographed two of them). I don't have much to say regarding the composition or why I chose to focus on a section of the cemetery that was primarily dirt and grass; I was shooting intuitively, not unlike Eggleston, and these subjects spoke to me the most that afternoon. Everything was calm and peaceful, and I felt a spiritual Presence once again, blessing me with the vision to see what needed to be seen there. This moment formed a beautiful coda to the previous week of shooting, slowing me down and helping me appreciate the small things once more; I hope that these photos speak to others the way they speak to me, and I have nothing left to do but leave them here!
Fairview Cemetery, Mishawaka, Indiana.
Fairview Cemetery, Mishawaka, Indiana.
Fairview Cemetery, Mishawaka, Indiana.
Untitled.
Fairview Cemetery, Mishawaka, Indiana.
*I find it amusing that the phrase "everything is photographable" was said by Garry Winogrand, as I've heard it almost exclusively spoken in reference to Eggleston.