Fiddlin Bill Henseley, Mountain Fiddler 1937

Ben’s photograph of Fiddlin Bill Henseley captures the mountain fiddler in a moment of focused performance. You know, sometimes I think about the act of pressing the shutter, how it's a kind of performance too—a gesture made at a specific moment that then becomes fixed and still. I can imagine Ben, born in 1935, moving around his subject, trying to capture the essence of Bill’s music through his presence and posture. Look at the way Bill’s hands hold the fiddle and bow, the concentration etched on his face, the shadow of the hat, the slight blur of movement. All this makes me want to hear the music, to imagine the sounds filling the space around them. Artists, whether musicians or photographers, are always listening and looking, aren't they? We learn from each other, responding to the rhythms and melodies of the world, and then translating those sensations into something new. That's how creativity works, and the possibilities never end.