From Library Journal
A Southerner born and bred, Spencer presents a collection of brooding black-and-white photographs of the South that read as richly as color images. His work--portraits that are clearly stage-directed but pull the viewer in, and landscapes mysteriously shrouded with mist or smoke--are technically proficient and unusual. Some images (like his picture of a headless man holding a glistening fish) are even unforgettable. And most importantly, his out-of-the-ordinary photographic printing technique doesn't overshadow the meaning and power of the images. Greiner, a New Orleans-based photographer, focuses his camera on cemeteries, a common camera subject in Louisiana. He makes uncommon images out of them, however, in large part because he shoots them in color rather than the usual black-and-white. These photos are part-landscape shots, part-portraits. Mixing humor, pathos, and deep respect, he captures the tributes that mourners have paid to the deceased and the traces of life they leave behind: flowers, shrines, framed portraits, colored gravel, plastic flowers, dead arrangements on scarecrow-like wreath-stands, potted plants, religious statuary, and, of course, gravestones of every variety. Both books contain good-quality, lively reproductions, and both are recommended for photographic collections.
-Kathleen Collins, Bank of America Corporate Archives, San Francisco
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-Kathleen Collins, Bank of America Corporate Archives, San Francisco
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
