Alex Johnson, Angola, Louisiana 24 - 1999

Deborah Luster made this photograph titled 'Alex Johnson, Angola, Louisiana' by using a technique called tintype photography. It's all in yellows and sepias, and this imbues the image with a strange sense of time, like something remembered. The plate itself, that golden surface, makes the image glow and gives the whole thing a kind of preciousness, a feeling of something unearthed. Look closely and you can see the imperfections, like dust and spots, embedded into the image. The man's hand rests gently on one of the mules. It's there, in that simple gesture, where the whole image finds its form. It reminds me a little of some of the photographs made by Roy DeCarava, in which everyday moments can become powerful and poetic. Like painting, photography can be about seeing, feeling, and finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.