Little Worlds - COMMUNITY - Helene
Little Worlds - Labor Day
Farmworker harvesting tomatoes, Spillcorn Madison County, NC 1984.
- from Little Worlds
On this Labor Day I’m reminded of a day in 1984 when I ventured out to Spillcorn. I had heard that a crew of Mexican farmworkers would be there harvesting tomatoes. As I had not heard of any Latino farmworkers in the county, I wanted to check it out. I wasn’t disappointed.
When I arrived I found a crew of six or seven men picking and loading tomatoes from an acre-size field. Off to the side was a single woman dutifully fixing food over an open fire for the pickers - tortillas, beans, cheese, tomatoes. Mariachi music was blaring over a tape player as the woman cooked and the men picked. They seemed happy to be working.
Now, 40 years later, I realize we as a country are still totally dependent on these men and women who grow and harvest our fruit and vegetables. I understand that without them we wouldn’t be eating anything fresh.
I picked tomatoes for a neighbor on Big Pine for two consecutive summers. It was hard, dirty work that left me coughing and itchy from the sprayed fruit. I would not want to be doing it again and am thankful for these nameless individuals who do this work.
So, when I hear politicians and other community members threaten to remove these farmworkers, or lock them up in camps, I wonder, who will pick our tomatoes, or harvest our breakfast berries, or milk our cows? Not me, and more than likely, not you.
Instead of being resentful, perhaps, we should all be thankful. I know I am.
Keep Books Dangerous
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Little Worlds - the Addendum - Asheville Citizen Times
A very nice article in the Asheville Citizen Times on Little Worlds written by Johnny Casey.
https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/madison/2024/08/03/ambergs-book-fuses-photography-fiction-and-letters-to-explore-place/74604847007/?itm_campaign=confirmation&itm_content=news&itm_medium=onsite&itm_source=onsite
Little Worlds - WART interview with Paul G.
For those of you who missed my interview on WARTfm.org with Paul G, here it is. It’s fun.
Photograph ©Parker Pfister, July 2024
Little Worlds - At the Depot
The Depot in Marshall was rocking Friday night with Pleasure Chest playing an extended set of country, rockabilly, and blues. The audience of mostly local, older county residents with a mix of young newcomers were not sure what to expect when the band took the stage but they quickly got into it. Lots of dancing, singalong, and outright shouting that reminded this county resident of some revivals he’s been too.
The finale brought the house down.
”They call it a trap,
I can’t walk out,
because I love you too much baby.”
I am always struck by the power of music to bring diverse people together. Folks who would not normally mingle were, on Friday night, partying as one, finding common ground, joyfulness It made me think we need more music in our lives, more things to bring us together, and less divisiveness.
Hats off to the Depot, Pleasure Chest and the people of Madison County.
Little Worlds - On Press
Last week I flew up to Massachusetts to be on press with Little Worlds. Flying in economy the flight was mercifully short and seated me next to a pianist who was in town for his brother’s memorial service. I picked up my Hertz rent-s-car at the Albany airport and headed out east to the Berkshires. Fifteen miles into the drive, the power steering froze at 45 mph amidst light traffic.I muscled the car into the parking lot for the East Greenbush bowling center where I was stranded for four hours. Back on the road six hours later, the trip took a major turn for the better.
First stop was with Mariah and Tyler in New Lebanon, New York. Mariah is one of our daughter’s oldest and closest friends who is now our friend also. They live in the woods and both work for environmental non-profits. It was a great visit - slow, quiet, the perfect counter to Hertz.
Mariah and Tyer Fogg, New Lebanon, NY, 04/30/24
The motel fence, Pttsfield, Ma, 04/30/24.
I left early the next morning for the printer in Dalton, Massachusetts, and checked into a low-rent motel on the edge of town surrounded by a sketchy fence from another era.
I was disconcerted when I first saw The Studley Press. Old, worn, nondescript building that I missed when I first drove by. But looks are often deceiving and inside I found a clean, organized place that reeked of efficiency and homeyness. The smell of ink, the mounds of paper, the shelves of high end art books and catalogs they had printed, the arrival of Suzanne’s grandchildren one afternoon. I had found my spot.
The Studley Press, Dalton, Massachusetts, 04/30/2024
The Studley Press is located in the Berkshires, in Dalton, Massachusetts. It’s an old company, coming on 90 years old, and has been owned and operated by Suzanne Salinetti for the last thirty years. Studley specializes in high quality art and photography books, catalogs and posters for individual artists, museums, organizations, and galleries from across the country.
Suzanne Salinetti, President, The Studley Press, 05/01/24
Suzanne has a small staff, most of whom have worked with her for at least seven years, some as long as thirty. She’s a hands-on boss who knows every inch of the operation and participates in most of them. She’s especially involved with the imagery of Little Worlds, reviewing every image, making adjustments with Scott Artioli, the pressman. Scott has been working with Suzanne for thirty years. Both his father and grandfather were pressmen so Scott brings a genetic understanding to the work, as well as, years of experience with a variety of presses and an amazing eye for detail, color, and tone. An absolute pleasure to work with, despite him being a NY Yankees fan.
Pressman Scott Artioli, The Studley Press
Scott and Suzanne reviewing proofs of Little Worlds.
Selecting a printer is a major choice when publishing a book. In the modern world of printing, most printers want to work digitally with little input from the artist or photographer. Most do not want guide prints, preferring to work entirely from scans, and they certainly do not want the artist “on press.” Studley encouraged both. I felt welcomed and included as we made minute changes to individual images as they went to press. Thank you, Suzanne, you and your staff made this vital part of the publishing process comfortable, easy, and far less stressful than it could have been.
Jerrod feeding paper into the press for Little Worlds.
Joe bringing Little Worlds off the press.
Jerry binding a blank dummy of Little Worlds so I can feel the weight and size of the book.
A brief overnight with my coursin Pam, her husband Dan, and their three grown children before I headed home the next day. Pam’s dad and my father were brothers, close in age, who stayed in touch throughout most of their lives, even though there were great distances between them. A meal in downtown Northampton. Back at their house for ice cream, we laughed at the obituary of our shared great-grandmother and mention of her toothless face. As we looked into each other’s face, Pam and I were both struck by how much we resembled our fathers.
My cousin, Pam Dissinger, and her husband, Dan, who was a pressman during his working days, Northampton, MA.
Outside of Dalton, Massachusetts, 05/03/24
Time for a short drive through the stunning Berkshire landscape at the very beginnings of spring up here. The small hill towns, the fresh smells, the total lack of trash on the roads. I stop to make a picture.
You can still participate in the pre-sale of Little Worlds at the following link.
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book
Little Worlds
Little Worlds
Little Worlds - Back inside cover
Little Worlds will be available at the end of May. You can order your copy by going to the link below:
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book
Little Worlds - Almost There
Rob Amberg has had his eyes and ears tuned to the Western North Carolina landscape and
its people since 1973. Rob’s photographs are imbued with his unique perspective as both an “outsider” and an “insider,” and his work in the Asheville Art Museum Collection provides an intimate look at the region as it has changed over the years. Little Worlds, through the beautifully woven tale of words and images, of fact and fiction, importantly adds to the discourse on the veracity of photographs as well as the subjective nature of memories and myths.
—Pamela L. Myers, Executive Director, Asheville Art Museum
Inside front cover of Little Worlds
I leave early Monday morning for Massachusetts to be on press for the final printing of Little Worlds. For those of you who have been following this long-running saga, we expect to have books on hand by the end of May. No one will be more pleased than me to have this book out in the world. To each of you who has contributed to the production of this book, I offer my heartfelt thanks and appreciation. It has truly been a community effort.
I will be posting some images from the printing process at The Studley Press in Dalton, Massachusetts. And if anyone remains interested in purchasing a pre-publication copy of Little Worlds, or talking advantage of the offered rewards, the link to the fundraiser is below.
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book
Little Worlds - the Beginnings
Kate Nursing, Paw Paw, 1994
- from Little Worlds
People have asked how I came up with the structure of Little Worlds - the intertwining of my fifty years of documentary photographs and journal entries with a fictional story set fifty years in the future.
The documentary photo book model has been in place for close to seventy years. it usually meant a portfolio of images, oral histories and/or narrative writing, perhaps an academic essay explaining the works’ significance. This model has remained intact because of its effectiveness. It works, but I wanted to do something different.
I often told stories with my children as they were growing up. These stories often involved characters from a distant past or an unimaginable future. But the kids also wanted tales of my past life - my travels, my time in Madison County and people I had met.
After a difficult publishing experience with my second book, The New Road, I had vowed to never do another book. It was simply too gut wrenching. But during a long solitary drive out west, I realized I had not finished what I had originally set out to do, which was tell a more complete story of my time in the county.
I began revisiting my journals and stories and the thousands of photographs I had made over my time here. I was reading Octavia Butler’s work at the time, which reminded me of the bedtime stories I told my children. I had never written fiction but I just started writing and soon a story began to take shape. Diana Stoll, my editorial advisor, was instrumental in helping me organize the complimentary narratives.
To remind myself, and viewers, that this is in effect a bedtime story, every chapter in the book begins with a photograph of Kate.
The Little Worlds fundraiser is ongoing. Details are at: https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the book
Little Worlds - BIG NEWS
Kate in my truck, Barnard, 1995.
-from Little Worlds
After seven plus years working on Little Worlds I’m pleased to announce the book is now in the capable hands of The Studley Press in Massachusetts. We’re looking at a publication date of mid to late May.
While it would seem I would be elated by this news, and I am, I’m also gripped by a sense of unease, the knowledge that the book is out of my hands now. It’s done, for better or worse, no more edits, or photo changes, or last minute story additions. All that’s left is the angst from wondering if Little Worlds is any good.
All books are journeys and Little Worlds has certainly proved to be more challenging than my last two. Dealings with publishers, the endless edits and structural changes in the manuscript, the minutiae of the self-publishing process, the fundraising and distribution, all have tested me. Yet there was comfort in those tests - the knowledge that the process was still in my hands. No risk involved.
After my second book, The New Road, I had vowed to never do another book. It had exhausted me. But some years later on a solitary drive out west, I concluded I wanted to do another. I needed to finish what I had started, which was a trilogy of books from Madison County, NC, where I had made my home for fifty years. Now, 22 years after the publication of Sodom Laurel Album and 15 years after The New Road, we will soon have Little Worlds.
I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the making of Little Worlds with generous donations, be they time, money, and goodwill. And to the people of Madison County who have graced me for fifty years with their stories, their images, and their friendships.
The fundraiser for Little Worlds is ongoing and I would encourage anyone who is interested in supporting this project to check out the link below.
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book
Little Worlds - author pix survey
One of the more disconcerting decisions to be made when publishing a book is choosing the author photograph. The thoughts and arguments surrounding such a choice are endless: too fat, too thuggish, too calm, pants hang too low, too boring, too mysterious, too me. I decided to give readers a bit of a choice. Here are the four under consideration. All are numbered. I’m not going to identify the photographers as yet. Make your choice. Buy a book.
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book
#1
#2
#3
#4
Me, Letojanni
In Letojanni, Sicily, October, 2023. ©photo by Titus Heagins 2023.
I think often about place and finding my spot in the world has been a lifelong quest. Where do I belong? Where am I most at ease? Where can I be my best self? Madison County has been that place for most of the last fifty years and I think I landed well.
As with life, photography and writing are equally dependent on finding your spot. Where to stand when making a photograph or to best hear a story is the first, and most elemental, decision I make when photographing or simply listening.
Throughout my life and career, I’ve had the opportunity to visit many places, some of which I’ve thought could become my spot. I’ve studied the landscape, the climate, the size, the people of these places—northern New Mexico, Vermont, Alaska, the Olympic Peninsula—and thought, I could live here. I could photograph here. I could be of this place. But I’ve never left my place in the mountains.
I returned home from a recent trip to Sicily with that familiar urge to make it my own. I had reasons: family history, living relatives I know, a love of the culture, land, and people. The raw emotion of being with family in the place where we began, where our DNA is buried. But perhaps most importantly was being of an age and inclination to appreciate and embrace the slow of the Mediterranean day.
The name Letojanni is often attributed to the Moors who conquered Sicily, as well as, much of 'Europe in the 9th century A.D. They had a favorite horse named Janni and named the town after him. But in Sicilian Letojanni is generally understood to mean happy years and I sense I could be happy there, that it could be my spot.
Janni, Letojanni, Sicily 2023
Please donate to my upcoming book Little Worlds
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book
Kate, Paw Paw, 2019
Kate, Paw Paw,2019
- from Little Worlds, 2019
I didn’t expect to be in this place as long as I have, but here I am. I married Leslie and raised my two children, Ben and Kate, and discovered and lived a life here. As they were growing up, I told my children stories, mostly at bedtime, about my life before moving to the mountains, as well as memories of my time here. And together we created fictions set in the past or a distant future. The stories were as much invention as real, a curious blend of fact and fantasy.
One story I told Kate—or imagine I told her—envisions our community in a future time, decades from now, when the world is a much different place. The land and people are familiar. Their story is the stuff of life— food and warmth, security, how we communicate and spend our time, our hopes and fears, how we define a life that is at once foreign, yet hidden in our memories. It’s a story we are still writing.
Please consider supporting the publication of Little Worlds through our pre-sale at the link below. In person purchases can be made by contacting me at <robambergphoto@gmail.com>. $55 plus tax.
The fundraiser:
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book
Little Worlds - Happy Days were here back then
Obama Inaugural Party, Marshall, 2009
-from Little Worlds, 2009
I overheard Leonard, one of our neighbors, say the other day, “Well, I guess we’re going to have to vote for that colored boy now.” It reminds me of how much things have changed, yet stayed the same, in the county. That local people would vote for a Black man for president while referring to him as a “colored boy” is enough to make my head spin. But change is elusive, and often forced, and in this case my neighbor would have voted differently had he felt he had a choice. But he would have never voted for a Republican.
Preorder Little Worlds
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book
Little Worlds
Lesslie, Bit Pine, 1988
from Little Worlds
1988
Ben and I move over to Leslie’s place, on the south face of our shared mountain. Laura and I are able to sell our thirty acres, and I use my part of the money to build a darkroom and studio a short walk from the house.
Leslie and I marry in the spring and soon are expecting a child. It’s a happy time. We know the baby will be a girl. Her name will be Kate.
The house and land are never-ending projects. We make house changes for the baby—replacing leaky windows, installing a spiral staircase to the upstairs where Ben sleeps.
We’ve cleared more garden space by cutting trees and turning never-plowed ground. We fence in a pasture area awash with multiflora rose, briars, and small saplings, and turn a small herd of goats onto it. We don’t see them for days, but in time we’re left with a cleared field.
Preorder Little Worlds
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book
Three from Italy
On our recent trip I was reminded how much I love train travel. The reminder happened quickly, about an hour after our departure from Letojanni, when the train was loaded onto a ferry for the short hop across the Strait of Messina to the Italian mainland. I know of no other place that does that.
Ferrying the train across the Strait of Messina, Sicily 2023
But beyond the uniqueness of trains on boats, travel by rail offers many amenities, especially compared to airplanes. Trains are comfortable, spacious really, easy to move around in. The countryside is immediate and available, so close it feels touchable - the Tyrrhenian Sea, Vesuvius, gritty Naples. And your fellow passengers are the same, close, willing to engage, share pictures of their children and ours with them. Ultimately, train travel becomes a welcome part of the journey, a story in itself - not another airport to dread with the crowds, the rush, the tension, so cramped you can barely cross your legs. Modern trains are fast, efficient but they feel slow and relaxed.
Leaving Sicily, 10/2023
Trains lull me. They place me in an unfamiliar dream where my vision abstracts to a mix of reality and fiction. I doze. I wake. I make a picture. I read. I walk to the club car and get an espresso. I make another picture, this one stranger than the last. I could do this forever.
Leaving Naples for Rome, 10/23.
Little Worlds
The Little Worlds fundraiser is still under way. I want to thank the people who have generously contributed so far. We are closer to our goal of $35,000 than we were but still have a ways to go. So, if you’re inclined to purchase the book, or want to take advantage of one of the offered rewards, I’d encourage pre-ordering at the link below. Pre-order demand is a good indicator to the publisher about the number of books to print.Thank you for your interest.
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book
Home health nurse examining patient, George Roberts, in his home, Big Pine, 1984.
from Little Worlds, 1984
There is some work close to home. I make photographs for a story on rural health care with my friend Millie for a Durham-based journal, Southern Exposure. I spend a couple of days with a home health nurse with the Hot Springs Health Program as she travels the county, meeting with patients who are unable to leave home. It’s an innovative program and serves as a model for rural health care delivery around the country. For county residents it’s made excellent and dependable care available without having to drive to Asheville or east Tennessee.
Little Worlds
Making molasses at Eldon Henderson’s House, Big Pine, 1978.
We volunteer to help our new neighbors make sorghum syrup and spend a long day cutting cane with tobacco knives, stripping the fodder and seed heads from the stalk, and then grinding the stalks through a mill that is powered by a horse. The thin, greenish juice is poured into a long, shallow pan and cooked for hours, changing the liquid into a thick amber syrup. The process goes on into the night. We meet new people—two of them turn out to be Laura’s relatives. Her cousin Nina suggests we take a piece of the ground stalk, dip it in the cook- ing syrup, and suck it dry. That overpowering sweetness, getting to know new people, and a photograph I make, are the best parts of the day.
- from Little Worlds
Little Worlds Fundraiser
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book
Little Worlds
Moonflowers, PawPaw.
Our nights are dark and quiet, except for the pair of screech owls calling from either end of the holler or coyotes on top of the mountain yearning for goat. The sky’s alive with stars, and when the moon is full the forest dances with shadows and shapes the daylight doesn’t know. Sometimes, when the baby is asleep, Leslie and I lie in the yard wrapped in a blanket, smoking and sipping, waiting for comets, cuddling in the comfort of dusky light.
- from Little Worlds
LITTLE WORLDS FUNDRAISER
https://www.robamberg.com/blog/2023/8/12/little-worlds-the-book