Richard Brown - The Last of the Hill Farms

raydm6

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Gorgeous photography of the fading Vermont farming lifestyle. I believe these were shot on 8x10. His web site is no longer active however.


VTD-Richard-W.-Brown-1-1-610x483.jpg

Northeast Kingdom lensman Richard W. Brown has published his collection of black-and-white photos in the book “The Last of the Hill Farms: Echoes of Vermont’s Past.” Photo by Richard W. Brown


 
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Many thanks for this Raydm6. To my mind these images are in the same league as those of the FSA collection as published by Stryker and Wood in 1973 (In This Proud Land), and those photographers included Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Carl Mydans, Arthur Rothstein, Jack Delano, Ben Shahn and others! Brilliant!
 
Gorgeous photography of the fading Vermont farming lifestyle. I believe these were shot on 8x10. His web site is no longer active however.


VTD-Richard-W.-Brown-1-1-610x483.jpg

Northeast Kingdom lensman Richard W. Brown has published his collection of black-and-white photos in the book “The Last of the Hill Farms: Echoes of Vermont’s Past.” Photo by Richard W. Brown





To see a span of oxen work is a beautiful thing. They are beautiful beasts and their owners are immensely proud. In Nova Scotia they use horn yokes rather than the neck yokes used down here. I have a great story about an ox pull at a country fair in Nova Scotia. But I will spare you. If you ever get a chance to see them work do not miss it.
 
A bit more technical detail (not much) and prints on the wall. I would have loved to see this. I am not too far a drive from the area (I am in Central Massachusetts).

...I thought I’d died and gone to photographer’s heaven. At first light I set out, my VW loaded with a couple of Nikons, an 8 x 10 view camera, a tripod, light meter and a dozen sheet film holders. No map. No plan. The idea was to get lost – to get lost and maybe end up somewhere before 1900 – or at least where it still looked that way.

Love this story:
When Richard W. Brown was still a student at Harvard University, he worked on a farm in Hartford. Driving through Quechee, he and a buddy saw a magnificent, crumbling old building. Thinking it was abandoned, they pulled over and got out to explore. They went from room to room, marveling at the structure that seemed to be from another era.

"We got into the so-called parlor," Brown remembered, "and my friend about fainted. He points, and I can see the back of this guy's head in a chair — he's asleep. God, did we get out of there in a hurry."

The "guy" was Theron Boyd, who would later become one of Brown's frequent photographic subjects. "It was 1975, and when I got out of my car, it was 1875," Brown said of his later work at the Boyd homestead. "It just kind of gave me goosebumps. And [Theron] was always glad to see me — I don't know why."
 
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Yes, very reasonable price in the UK for such a high quality duotone printing. I've just ordered it, via AbeBooks.co.uk, from an independent bookshop in England for £31.01 including delivery.

A great photographer. I agree with Dogman that Richard Brown is very much like James Ravilious in style, subject and composition. Both take brilliantly composed photos that are full of tender feeling, and at times perhaps a bit sad and wistful.
 
This fellow and the folks out of the Depression Era federally sponsored group did some remarkable work. And as with Matthew Brady what we regard as historically important images were "current events" at one time. And they beg the question, "Is photography an art form?" It sure can be. Think of those folks who went out with some sort of photographic device and no promise of a fat paycheck to capture all that we now have.

A side benefit is that these folks encourage all of us to go out and try to grab great images.
 
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