"For me, one of the biggest problems with pure documentary photography is how the photographer, like the artist, engineers something to look like a certain kind of social statement—for instance, you can make someone look miserable, when this is just one side, a nuance of their personality. They might just be looking away at something, but their expression could be read as showing a kind of depression in their overall behaviour. I couldn’t bear the idea of taking photographs of people without knowing"
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Meatyard is an American photographer. He purchased his first camera in 1950 (rolleiflex medium front camera) to photograph his newborn first child. He then joined a Lexington camera club in 1954 and also a photographic society of America. He was early influenced by Van Deren Coke work. Much of Meatyard's work was made in abandoned farm houses in Kentucky during family weekend. He addressed the surreal "masks" of identity and the nature of surface matter. |
Facial expression is the wreath that crowns the work and distinguishes good portraiture .