Onslow County: By Kitty Ethridge

For Curing Tobacco and Storing Small Machinery ©2012 Kitty Ethridge

A trip down south to document my past was derailed by doctors and hospitals and a family unable to decide what to do with me when life strikes. These barns and sausages drying, late night photos down seldom traveled country roads, and the seemingly odd Polaroid shots of a small town's shout out to Mardi Gras, are the scavenged remains of a couple of hours here and there between trips to Duke hospital, Durham, and my parent's home on the coast of North Carolina.

Tying leaves on the Stick ©2012 Kitty Ethridge

Originally I went down planning to stay for a week to document my past and take some portraits of my mother's people, her mother's sisters and brother-in-law. I needed her to geographically navigate the back roads that I've forgotten, and ease me into a family that loves me but has always viewed me with suspicion. Instead she was hospitalized and I ended up only slightly dipping my toe into the fertile dark soil of the land where I grew up.

Handmade Breakfast Sausage Drying ©2012 Kitty Ethridge

Late Night at Ace's and a NY Yankees Fan ©2012 Kitty Ethridge

Salvation on a Back Road ©2012 Kitty Ethridge

Mardi Gras in Beaufort ©2012 Kitty Ethridge

The barns of course are the relics of a time when tobacco was king. The acres of fields behind them either lie fallow or wait their turn in the rotation of what is presently considered more acceptable cash crops; cotton, soybean, corn. I didn't fail my objective completely. I've just had to push the time line out a bit further and we all know this is problematic with the living. One aunt has just died, and time thus continues to laugh at me.

C.R.I.T 6/5/11

Sam Quinn is doing a study on space with industrial landscapes in 4x5 black & white Polaroid and color negatives. Sam likes the instant gratification of Polaroid, but has the intention to primarily shoot this project in color. He also showed portraits in a deadpan style, and his signature typewriter shots which involve photographing a typed message and the machine.

Sam Quinn © 2011

Sam Quinn © 2011

Sam Quinn © 2011

Sam Quinn © 2011

Eddy Pula has been shooting with a twin lens medium format camera. He wanted to change up the format from his usual 4x5 aspect ratio. Quickly after switching to digital, he concluded, "Digital equals instant disappointment". Eddy's next logical format was the square, so he could have more shots than a 4x5 camera would allow, but still not the disappointment of digital.
Eddy... critiqued himself, and also accepted others' feedback of course. He has been shooting portraits, his muse as of late being Puffer's Pond in Western Massachusetts. Eddy said that he has been trying to divide his space in the photographs into thirds, and focus more on the background and foreground. An avid street photographer, Eddy has usually stuck to photographing centered subjects, with most of the focus on the individuals.

Eddy Pula © 2011

Eddy Pula © 2011

Eddy Pula © 2011

Eddy Pula © 2011

Eric Dietrich is enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and is a documentary photographer for them. He has been photographing Naval events as his day job, photographing a list of required shots. Once the list has been met, he shoots photos that express his artistic expression. The Navy has strict rules about no editing. Some of his photographs were changed from color to black & white, which is considered editing to the Navy. He did this for his own personal use. The photographs he shoots for himself are images that the Navy may not desire because of aspects that are imperfect; i.e. motion blurs, creative cropping, shooting from unconventional vantage-points. This all caused us to question the ownership of his photographs, and what that means for his work. The Navy owns his work, but he gets credit for it. Eric is shipping off to Afghanistan at the end of July.

Eric Dietrich © 2011

Eric Dietrich © 2011

Eric Dietrich © 2011

Eric Dietrich © 2011