American Culture, FSA, Russell Lee

WATER WORKED

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Segregated facilities, Oklahoma City, OK, 1939


Lee was hyper aware of the segregatation of the south. He repeatedly photographed it when he en=countered it. Since mostof his 1930s work was done of people laboring, he constantly interacted with Latino and African-American people.
Did his photography get seen.
Director Roy Stryker of the Historic Unit of the FSA hesitated but went ahead with the distribution of images like the oner above.
Fully aware that the funding for the FSA project came from Congress and that nearly a third of the House was segregationist, Stryker exposed himself to being de-platformed by this southern block, which, as the 30s went on, became a running battle leading all the way up to World War II.
Did it get published?
Yes, occasionally and only in the northern and far western press.
It was a beginning, leading the public forward 15 years to the first major Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In a way, Lee, fully aware, was not only shooting “hard times,” but, in his mind, “better times.”





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American Culture, FSA

JOHN VACHON AND MARILYN

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Marilyn photographed by John Vachon during location shooting for River Of No Return in August 1953
Text by Bruce Berman, Editor

In 1936 John Vachon was a “late” FSA photographer. His original job was to catalog other photographer’s images. He was, at 21,  a “filing clerk,” for the FSA library and had little intention of being a photographer. He needed a job.

By 1937, Vachon had become completely familiar with the FSA, its Director, Roy Stryker and the works of the of the FSA photographers.

He wanted in!

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American Culture, FSA

NEWS ISN’T CHEAP: 1936-2011

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The NBC Control Room in NYC, 1936

(photographer unknown)

Article by Bruce Berman

What did Russell Lee do when he was on the road? His notes indicate that he did a lot of thinking about what he had shot at the last stop and what he needed to shoot at the next stop. However, in the thousands of miles that he logged in for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) he must have found “blank spaces” in his travels, times when he was bored with the road, even the job and its mission.

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American Culture, Family, New Mexico

FAMILY IN A PLYMOUTH

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Posted by Bruce Berman

Family in a 1930s Plymouth, Magdalena, New Mexico, 2010 by ©Bruce Berman

This car was manufactured in one of the same years that Russell Lee worked U.S. 60 and lived in Pie Town, 57 miles west of where this image was made.

But the people?

One thing I notice, the more I look at Lee and the more I self examine, are the smiles on the people. I often ask myself if the smiles are a result of the people who are photographed, the photographer, the alchemy between the two, or what? It is an essential question in photography: whose viewpoint is this all about? I have settled (for many years now) with the idea that the image should be about the people one is documenting, however, the photographer, after all, is there, and is part of the moment.

But…

Read more: FAMILY IN A PLYMOUTH

I do notice that Lee’s people don’t look as downtrodden, as say Lange’s do.

Nor are the people I am attracted to as hang dog as I could make them, as as down and out as, say, Eugene Richards would portray them.

That’s a little debatable, I know, but what I am exploring and asking is, how much does the photographer affect the reality of the situation -the truth- and how much is driven by the subject? I think the answer to the truth part is not found in the photographs but, rather, is found in the biography of the shooter. What’s the track record? What has the career been dedicated to? Have there been “incidents?” What has the photographer said, and therefore, does he or she have an agenda?

If you don’t want to go into Lee’s images -or mine- that deeply or in that way, let’s just say, ”Family in an old Plymouth, Magdalena, NM, 07/10/2010, ©Bruce Berman.”

Tags: 1930’s Photography, Farm Security Administration (FSA), New Mexico, Russell Lee, U.S.60

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