Shelby Lee Adams

The documentary "The Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams" is both fascinating and disturbing. Adams grew up in Appalachia and has centered his career on photographing the people of the region, most of them extremely poor. The documentary focuses on Adams photographing families he has known for many years. Critics say that he is simply taking sensationalized photographs that perpetuate hillbilly stereotypes. He arranged for a minister to buy a hog that a poor family butchered, recreating events that took place when Adams was young and providing a tremendous photo opportunity. The picture of this family standing in front of the butchered hog, with the hog's severed head in a bucket, at their feet, is stunning. In fact, all of the images in this documentary are stunning. A photograph taken at a funeral, showing what was happening in two rooms at the same time is wonderful.

The hardest part of this documentary was looking at the photographs of the retarded children of a family Adams knows. The images are so disturbing, they are very hard to look at. The critics say that these images perpetuate the stereotype of in-breeding. Although the images are difficult to look at, there is no denying their impact on the viewer. I believe that Adams chose these subjects because of the incredible impact they have, but on the other hand, photographers have always looked for strong subject matter, and showing these images truly does emphasize the poverty and hardship that exists in this region.

One woman featured in the documentary was extremely angry at Adams for taking a photograph of her young sister, hair unkempt, arms folded over a broken screen door. She says it makes her family look like poverty stricken Appalachians, perpetuating a stereotype, but Adams says it was simply a great photograph. I have to agree with this. It was a wonderful photograph, and looking at it, I did not think of poverty in Appalachia, but just that it was a beautiful photograph of a child.

In conclusion, I am sure that Adams choose his subject matter for the impact it would have. But on the other hand, this is a true representation of real families in this region, and a record of their lives. I have to agree with Adams that it is a worthy subject.