Attitude toward photographers in deep south

[paulfish4570]

in the cities in public areas, beaches, touristy areas no will pay you any mind. you will slash through alabama largely in VERY rural areas. great mixture of people, but they can be a bit clannish, of all colors. just smile, say yes ma'am and no ma'am and you will be welcome. some really good eating in my neck of the woods. your route will take you VERY close to where we live. give a holler.

 

[jojoman2]

in the cities in public areas, beaches, touristy areas no will pay you any mind. you will slash through alabama largely in VERY rural areas. great mixture of people, but they can be a bit clannish, of all colors. just smile, say yes ma'am and no ma'am and you will be welcome. some really good eating in my neck of the woods. your route will take you VERY close to where we live. give a holler.

In rural areas with little foot traffic I plan on engaging subjects directly, briefly explaining my project and asking respectfully for their permission to photograph in their presence. Thanks for the description of your area. I definitely will be photographing rural life as well as urban.

Also, if anyone knows of any good stretches to get off the highway, or major events/festivals that take place over the summer don't hesitate to share. I'm doing my own research, but it never hurts to hear from locals.

 

[gdi]

Be very very careful when carrying a camera in public anywhere south of Manassas to north of Jacksonville. I recommend wearing a buckshot-proof vest under Camo, and keep a duck commander call round your neck to obscure your camera - and for Jack Daniel's sake, leave all your vintage hipster clothes up north.

When walking the street, be sure to have a small stun gun or a tranquilizer pistol at the ready; and keep a pack of Redman to quickly toss as a distractor ( they can't resist that stuff), it may buy you enough time to scurry away to safety. But for the ultimate protection, I would recommend a shark cage modified with wheels on the bottom corners , though it can be unwieldy and may prove useless against a pickup with a hemi.

If you approach a crowd of natives, particularly a bachelor pack, pay close attention to non-verbal queues as well as vocalizations that make indicate rising kevels of agitation. Calmly and quickly move away while avoiding direct eye contact should you observe the alpha spitting on the ground, cracking his knuckles or neck, or passing his beer to the Southerner to his right. The same goes for vocalizations such as addressing you as 'Boy' in any context, disparging your mother, or simply uttering the words " Free Bird".

Follow all this advice and you could come away with some great photos, good luck!


(IOW, sheesh...)

 

[jojoman2]

Be very very careful when carrying a camera in public anywhere south of Manassas to north of Jacksonville. I recommend wearing a buckshot-proof vest under Camo, and keep a duck commander call round your neck to obscure your camera - and for Jack Daniel's sake, leave all your vintage hipster clothes up north.

When walking the street, be sure to have a small stun gun or a tranquilizer pistol at the ready; and keep a pack of Redman to quickly toss as a distractor ( they can't resist that stuff), it may buy you enough time to scurry away to safety. But for the ultimate protection, I would recommend a shark cage modified with wheels on the bottom corners , though it can be unwieldy and may prove useless against a pickup with a hemi.

If you approach a crowd of natives, particularly a bachelor pack, pay close attention to non-verbal queues as well as vocalizations that make indicate rising kevels of agitation. Calmly and quickly move away while avoiding direct eye contact should you observe the alpha spitting on the ground, cracking his knuckles or neck, or passing his beer to the Southerner to his right. The same goes for vocalizations such as addressing you as 'Boy' in any context, disparging your mother, or simply uttering the words " Free Bird".

Follow all this advice and you could come away with some great photos, good luck!


(IOW, sheesh...)

Hahahaha. I'll take that under advisement as an area to take a bit of caution around. I wear pretty neutral clothing in solid colors without writing of any kind and straight jeans. I do have relatively long hair that I typically wear up in a man bun, however (I'm in my early 20's). Do you think that might cause alarm? I don't have a heavy new york accent, definitely not a jersey shore accent. Folks will probably be able to place me in the northeast when they hear me talk, which will help my narrative: "I'm just a young artist trying to do my thing."

 

[goamules]

Bwahahaha! Thanks, I was going to craft a similar response (native North Carolinian, now out West) But you did the trick! I was going to mention how we would chase down carpetbagger yankees with cameras, and throw them off railroad bridges. But those days are sadly over....

You will meet the nicest people and have the best time in the South. Come to Tucson, AZ if you want to be shot at, ignored by restaurant waiters, and run off the road DAILY by hyper aggressive machismo drivers. You'll be fine in the South, it's the best part of the US.

Be very very careful when carrying a camera in public anywhere south of Manassas to north of Jacksonville. I recommend wearing a buckshot-proof vest under Camo, and keep a duck commander call round your neck to obscure your camera - and for Jack Daniel's sake, leave all your vintage hipster clothes up north.

When walking the street, be sure to have a small stun gun or a tranquilizer pistol at the ready; and keep a pack of Redman to quickly toss as a distractor ( they can't resist that stuff), it may buy you enough time to scurry away to safety. But for the ultimate protection, I would recommend a shark cage modified with wheels on the bottom corners , though it can be unwieldy and may prove useless against a pickup with a hemi.

If you approach a crowd of natives, particularly a bachelor pack, pay close attention to non-verbal queues as well as vocalizations that make indicate rising kevels of agitation. Calmly and quickly move away while avoiding direct eye contact should you observe the alpha spitting on the ground, cracking his knuckles or neck, or passing his beer to the Southerner to his right. The same goes for vocalizations such as addressing you as 'Boy' in any context, disparging your mother, or simply uttering the words " Free Bird".

Follow all this advice and you could come away with some great photos, good luck!


(IOW, sheesh...)

 

[nikonosguy]

Its not hard

Safer than new york, chicago or detroit.

 

[x-ray]

I've lived in East Tennessee since 1951. I do a great deal of documentary work in Appalachia particularly in to very poor areas. Best advice to anyone, don't poke your nose in places you dont belong. Even I have been shot at once and chased by an ax Swinging crazy man. Stay in populated areas away from back roads and stay off people's property. Even photographing private property can get you in trouble. Theres a huge drug problem in the rural areas, meth and hillbilly heroin and pot. Pot is illegal her and is the states #1 cash crop.

Just stay out of back areas, be polite, show respect and don't poke your nose in places you don't belong and you'll be ok. There's a lot of paranoia, mental Illness and extreme poverty not to mention illegal drugs.

I do a great deal of documentary work in Appalachia and if people don't know me I always work with a known and respected member of the community. It's often a preacher in the area.

I have long hair and beard but I'm 67 and can blend with the locals, I guess I am one 🙂. Man bun might get your butt kicked in the wrong place or a man bag. If youre other than Caucasian then you could get in trouble. Some areas even Jewish are frowned on.

 

[gdi]

Hahahaha. I'll take that under advisement as an area to take caution around. I wear pretty neutral clothing in solid colors without writing of any kind and straight jeans. I do have relatively long hair that I typically wear up in a man bun, however (I'm in my early 20's). Do you think that might cause alarm?

Man bun? Why not just burn the Stars and Bars and show up in a Prius while you're at it - at least you'd get it over with quickly.

And be aware that some may think young artists are the best - they taste like chicken...

 

[jojoman2]

Man bun? Why not just burn the Stars and Bars and show in a Prius while you're at it - at least you'd get it over with quickly.

It will probably be too humid to deal with long hair anyway. Off it goes (in a few months).

 

[jojoman2]

I've lived in East Tennessee since 1951. I do a great deal of documentary work in Appalachia particularly in to very poor areas. Best advice to anyone, don't poke your nose in places you dont belong. Even I have been shot at once and chased by an a. Swinging crazy man. Stay in populated areas away from back roads and stay off people's property. Even photographing private property can get you in trouble. Theres a huge drug problem in the rural areas, meth and hillbilly heroin and pot. Pot is illegal her and is the states #1 cash crop.

Just stay out of back areas, be polite, show respect and don't poke your nose in places you don't belong and you'll be ok. There's a lot of paranoia, mental Illness and extreme poverty not to mention illegal drugs.

I do a great deal of documentary work in Appalachia and if people don't know me I always work with a known and respected member of the community. It's often a preacher in the area.

Thanks, this is an important post. I will seriously consider this as I further design my route. A lot of times there will be folks around New York hanging out on corners for long periods of times dealing drugs. When I was first photographing I didn't recognize that pattern, and would often take their pictures. I learned pretty quickly not to do that (usually). Photography and shady business naturally clash an awful lot, it's important to figure out the social boundaries wherever you go.

 

[daveleo]

@gdi . . . . you should be writing screenplays !!

 

[goamules]

I lived in the Appalachians while in college, and my relatives populated the area in the 1700s. Nothing to worry about in the region, but like anywhere, it's the particular areas to avoid. Climbing fences, opening "no tresspassing" gates, and wandering around a poor, drug prone area in Seattle, Philly, DC, Orlando, Ferguson/St. Louis, etc is not advised. It has nothing to do with the South, it has to do with dejected people.

Read the old Firefox books, or visit the Blue Ridge Parkway to see what the real Appalachians are about. Ignore junk like "Deliverance." Journalists and Photographers have gotten wonderful photographs of the Appalachian people for generations, since the 1920s for sure. If people had listened to the crazy advice offered here, the Carters would have never been discovered (Bristol TN first recordings), nor a lot of other great cultural things. Watch a little Diners, Drivins and Dives TV show too. I'd go anywhere in the south other than private property. You'll find lots of youth happily hiking, climbing, photographing, camping, and other "dangerous" things you wouldn't do in a major US city (because you'd be mugged).

 

[x-ray]

I might suggest watching the movie Deliverance if you're thinking about Cocke, Morgan, Scott or Polke counties in East Tennessee. These are very poor, uneducated and unemployed folks. Morgan and Scott were coal mining communities and that's gone now thanks to current politics. Political discussions are something you should avoid unless you're ultra conservative. Take the coexist sticker and Bernie stickers off your car if you have them.

 

[goamules]

Some people carry guns and they have big dogs, with signs around their homes that announce "NO TRESPASSING" ... 🙂 The American SE may have some of the highest murder and rape rates in the country.....

Not even close. Top 10 murder cities in the USA in 2015:
1 East St. Louis, IL
2 Camden, NJ
3 Gary, IN
4 Chester, PA
5 Saginaw, MI
6 Flint, MI
7 Detroit, MI
8 Trenton, NJ
9 New Orleans, LA
10 Newark, NJ

Rates are the number of reported forcible rapes per 100,000 people.

1. Alaska - 79.7
2. South Dakota - 70.2
3. Michigan - 46.4
4. New Mexico - 45.9
5. Arkansas - 42.3
6. Oklahoma - 41.6
7. Colorado - 40.7
8. North Dakota 38.9
9. Nebraska - 38.3
10. Montana - 37.7

 

[x-ray]

It will probably be too humid to deal with long hair anyway. Off it goes (in a few months).

Many folks in Appalachia have long hair. No need to cut it. Just do t wear a bun. Pony tail is fine, that's how I wear mine.

 

[gdi]

I've lived in East Tennessee since 1951. I do a great deal of documentary work in Appalachia particularly in to very poor areas. Best advice to anyone, don't poke your nose in places you dont belong. Even I have been shot at once and chased by an ax Swinging crazy man. Stay in populated areas away from back roads and stay off people's property. Even photographing private property can get you in trouble. Theres a huge drug problem in the rural areas, meth and hillbilly heroin and pot. Pot is illegal her and is the states #1 cash crop.

Just stay out of back areas, be polite, show respect and don't poke your nose in places you don't belong and you'll be ok. There's a lot of paranoia, mental Illness and extreme poverty not to mention illegal drugs.

I do a great deal of documentary work in Appalachia and if people don't know me I always work with a known and respected member of the community. It's often a preacher in the area.

I have long hair and beard but I'm 67 and can blend with the locals, I guess I am one 🙂. Man bun might get your butt kicked in the wrong place or a man bag. If youre other than Caucasian then you could get in trouble. Some areas even Jewish are frowned on.

The drug situation sounds a lot like New Hampshire or Greenfield, Mass. Where I'm from we basically considered Tennesee the mid-west anyway.

The OP may be safest spending time in West Virginia. Unless he has extended family down that way, he is probably pretty safe; but even a single third cousin could increase his risk significantly.

 

[goamules]

I might suggest watching the movie Deliverance if ...

And before the above person wrote this I suggested you ignore anyone who mentions that stupid Hollywood movie. Unless you believe Hollywood's portrayal of anyone from the South as dangerous, stupid, and out to get you. I'm not sure how someone that lives there can have that impression, he must not get out much.

You WILL have trouble in Ferguson, MO, Detroit, or Compton/LA. Big cities are the problem, not the country people. You'll be fine in the South, or the Appalachian mountains. I guarantee it. Give us a full report when you get back.

 

[jojoman2]

And before the above person wrote this I suggested you ignore anyone who mentions that stupid Hollywood movie. Unless you believe Hollywood's portrayal of anyone from the South as dangerous, stupid, and out to get you. I'm not sure how someone that lives there can have that impression, he must not get out much.

You WILL have trouble in Ferguson, MO, Detroit, or Compton/LA. Big cities are the problem, not the country people. You'll be fine in the South, or the Appalachian mountains. I guarantee it. Give us a full report when you get back.

Another good point about big cities that I'm not familiar with. It will definitely be worth my time to research some of those areas. I have some experience photographing in Harlem, Brooklyn, and Newark, enough to know not to take unnecessary risks.

 

[jojoman2]

I'm white, average in height, weight, and appearance other than my hair. I'm 23 but look a little older than I am. In other words, I'm young enough to still be able to photograph children without much trouble.

 

[goamules]

Then you're fine. The truth is that people like to talk about their lives. Just tell them you are interested in them, and they'll be willing to help you find good subject, show you around, or pose. Same as in Harlem. Hanging around a strip club at midnight or trying to photograph crack houses is dangerous. Getting shots of normal people and places, and not being alone is not. The millions of people that hike alone on the Appalachian trail can't be wrong. An occasional crime, just like at a National Park or in a Mall. If you care about your subjects, most people will like you. Southerners don't like critical, loud, uncompromising people, just like no one does.