Fotografía de autor

Peter Feldstein

Autor de The Oxford Project

1+ Obra 198 Miembros 16 Reseñas

Obras de Peter Feldstein

The Oxford Project (2008) — Fotógrafo — 198 copias

Obras relacionadas

Paul-Emile Borduas (1976) — Traductor, algunas ediciones25 copias

Etiquetado

Conocimiento común

Género
male

Miembros

Reseñas

A wonderful look at the individuals in the town of Oxford, Iowa, with photographs of every resident in the 1980s and again in 2006. Not just for small town lovers like me ... Highly recommend.
 
Denunciada
ljohns | 15 reseñas más. | Jun 15, 2020 |
I read a description of this book on my library site and loved the premise. In 1984, a photographer takes a single picture of almost every resident of his small town, Oxford, Iowa (pop 693, he photographed 670). Twenty years later, he goes back and takes another picture. He found almost everyone, about one-hundred people had died, and another hundred had moved.

For the second round of photos, a friend, author Stephen G. Bloom, interviewed about one-hundred of the residents. They were quite surprised by the candor, and lack of self-consciousness of the residents. I’m astounded by the sense of satisfaction the people have with their lives. Though quite a few express regrets at not having gone to college they all seem to be at peace with whatever this life has given them. I wonder if the small town support system accounts for the connectedness and contentment they exhibit.

I looked through the book, read their stories and felt deeply connected to them. As with Finding Grace: The Face of America’s Homeless, it seems to be the mere action of being noticed and acknowledged is what compels them to open up.

Bloom relates this feeling also, “The more Peter and I listened, the more we realized we’d become confessors to an unheard and invisible America.”

I wonder if the quality of peoples lives can be improved by being acknowledged in some way? This is interesting to me. How you can change situation, people’s outlook, their world view by seeing them, listening to them, acknowledging their existence?
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LynneMF | 15 reseñas más. | Aug 20, 2017 |
I was charmed by this book, with all the then-and-now pictures of the citizens of Oxford, Iowa. What a neat project! I enjoyed the candid bios of some of the people, as well.
 
Denunciada
dukefan86 | 15 reseñas más. | May 29, 2013 |

The Oxford Project; with its photos of the residents of Oxford, Iowa first in 1984 and then twenty years later, contains within its pages a unique way to look at the population of a small town in America. The first set of photos were taken without writing down the people's stories, it was more of a photo-mosaic of the town. When the second group of photos was taken twenty years later there was an interviewer present to write down whatever the people had to say.

The updated photos reflect the inevitable changes of the passage of twenty years. Everyone gets older, most gain at least a little bit of weight, and some die in the interim. The reader learns from the interviews that some love small town life (especially those whose families have lived in the town for generations) and some can't stand it. Some are liberal, some conservative; some religious, some not. In other words, it reflects the differences and similarities that are present in small towns across America.

I thought it was interesting that the author said that some of the statements made by the people sounded a little bit like tall tales. I kept that in mind as I read the stories, but there were only a few that made me think that there might have been some exaggeration on the behalf of the interviewee.

There was one man who was so blatantly racist that it shocked me. Those racist attitudes are not something that I run into often in my day to day life, and it was a good reminder that people with those beliefs and attitudes are still out there.

Especially sad were the photos that didn't have updates because the people in those photos had passed away. Some of the original photos were accompanied by the personal stories of their loved ones. In this way it was a good representation of the realities of life - people are born, age and die, and we just hope that they don't die before their time.

One thing that the author noted, that I enjoyed looking for in the photos, was how people would pose in almost the exact same manner that they had in the original photos, down to the way that they held their fingers or tilted their head. I guess some things don't really change.

If you have any interest in photo books, or the sociological makeup of small town America, then you should like this book.
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Denunciada
akreese | 15 reseñas más. | May 16, 2013 |

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Obras
1
También por
2
Miembros
198
Popularidad
#110,929
Valoración
½ 4.5
Reseñas
16
ISBNs
2

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