family: chris verene

I bought this 

Chris Verene

book

"Family"

a while back

and just opened it up tonight 

because I am feeling just a little blue,

to say the least.

I'm not sure why I get pulled to photography when I'm down,

but I do.

Design seemed too crass, too commercial,

too weak to comment on tonight....

I guess I couldn't really call Chris a friend anymore,

but we were close acquaintances at one point.

I'm sure if I saw him today,

he would be sweet as pie,

he always was.

We had a good friend in common,

 and I have followed his work 

from afar after the friendship faded 

and people moved on....

For a fan of Southern photographers such as 

William Eggleston and William Christenberry,

Chris is a must.

Chis shoots with a 2 1/4 camera,

so the reproductions in the book are

basically square, so the crops are mine,

but I tried to stay in the spirit of the photo.

The captions are his,

and it's too bad I couldn't show the full pages effectively,

(I really need someone to tweek

my html, but more on that later....)

because the captions are handwritten,

and they work really well with the photographs.

Please explore Chris's work

more online and at a good bookstore;

this silly blog post really, really 

does 

not 

do 

the 

photos 

justice....

"Candi's wedding with her two 

favorite customers 

from her job at the Sirloin Stockade."

"Craig's new house."

"My cousin Steve with his daughter.

His wife had just left him."

"Doris stays nights with a shut-in."

"My cousin Libby's pig farm farm cats."

"Rozie and I like to visit Gary.

My Aunt Doris used to look after 

Gary when he was a baby."

"Travis's House"

"Travis's Grandma"

"Travis made Pigs in Blankets."

"My cousin's husband's brother's cousin's cousins."

"Pam and Dan's trailer. 

Dan's kid's live here half the time."

"Autumn's new bedroom"

"Pam and Dan"

(Dalton and Cheyenne)

"Crystal at Eighteen"

"Mercedes has never seen her father."

"Mercedes will soon have a half sister named Lexus.

Crystal says I'm that baby's father!"

"Lexus"

(Amber and Mercedes)

To

see 

more 

on 

Chris Verene

click

here

here

here

and

here

.