Photographers Research - Alec Soth

Alec Soth is an American photographer based in Minnesota, he was born in 1969. His photography is taken with a climatic feel with elements of folklore that hint at a story behind the image. He takes photographs of people that he meets, so for example, a few of these photographs are of people living by the Mississippi river.

In this photo, the man is lying with his head resting on a stone, he looks asleep although it's not very common for people to sleep outdoors, even less so on a rock because rocks are very uncomfortable. I think that this image is meant to show that he is dead because he doesn't look very peaceful and it is not a usual place to sleep. This image might be signifying how when we die, we go back to nature.

This photograph is of a woman, she is showing off her jumper as it has lots of bible quotes on it. Mississippi is part of the bible belt and it is a very important thing to a lot of people in America, people tend to be more religious than in England. In England, it has progressed a lot since religion was ingrained into society, for example, my parents were both brought up as Christians in the 1970s, however I was never brought up religious and I don't know anybody my age that regularly goes to church, it is much less important now than it was before. Although, in America it is still very ingrained into society, especially in less developed areas like Texas and Mississippi where they are less connected, a lot of older people won't have computers or smartphones and will probably depend on letters and landlines for communication.

This image shows a woman lying on a bed, she isn't wearing much clothing but she still seems comfortable with having her photograph taken like this. If you were in a place like England, it doesn't often get hot enough for people to dress like this, however in Mississippi it is hot quite a lot so people are more comfortable with having their photograph taken. If this was taken in England it might be seen as quite provocative, whereas in America this is quite normal. The woman is looking straight into the lens which might show that she has no shame or fear of this photograph and where it might go, most of his photographs are like this, he wants to show a realistic representation of life in Mississippi.

This photograph is of a man called Joseph in a Prison in Mississippi, he is wearing a top that says preacher man on it, this contrasts heavily with the tattoo he has and the location the photograph was taken in, he calls himself a preacher whilst he has a tear tattoo on his cheek, this shows contrast because a tear tattoo can signify somebody you've killed. Despite this, he calls himself a preacher, a preacher is somebody who preaches the importance of religion usually, religion usually tells people to be peaceful and kind, killing someone is the opposite of this and I think that Alec Soth wanted to show the juxtaposition of this.