Whispering Pines [Hardcover]

Birney Imes (Author), Trudy Wilner Stack (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

One of the best applications of photography is in documenting vanishing aspects of a culture. Here, Imes (Juke Joint, Univ. Pr. of Mississippi, 1990) portrays an old roadside cafe, in decline since the 1940s, and aging proprietor Blume C. Triplett, as well as the sundry clientele of the rural establishment. The series began in the 1970s, when Imes was just starting his career, and the resulting book serves as a personal essay wherein he revisits his youth. An elegiac quality pervades the photographs, which are gritty, idiosyncratic, and moving. This wonderfully revealing collection is enhanced by Trudy Wilner Stack's introduction and a remembrance by the photographer, which serve to further establish the work in the context of time and place. An essential acquisition for all fine arts collections, this should be considered by public and academic libraries wishing to offer their patrons varied examples of the finest contemporary American photography.
Raymond Bial, Parkland Coll. Lib., Champaign, Ill.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

The fascinating aura of place captured in photographs of a decaying crossroads store

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi; 1st edition (July 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878056955
• ISBN-13: 978-0878056958
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,450,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shouting Loud About Whispering Pines, November 30, 2000

By 

John S. Harris (Lakeland, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Whispering Pines (Hardcover)

Have you ever wanted to put a face on those whacking Flannery O'Connor characters or be able to paint what Faulkner wrote? If so, then this is your book.

I worked for photographer Birney Imes for one year in Columbus, Mississippi. I was a reporter for his family newspaper. I got a chance to live in the area where Whispering Pines is located and get a feel for Imes's hometown, which is the basis for nearly all of his photographs.

I've driven by the old Whispering Pines building many times, but you wouldn't look twice at the broken down place. What makes Imes a great photographer is that he stops, gets out, and meets the people behind the place. Since he's a hometown boy, the people in the area warm to him and don't mind the intrusion of his camera.

Imes's photos of the haunting owner of Whispering Pines and his surroundings are vintage South -- what you never see from the road. He uses bright lighting in full-bled color to depict a place that now is crubbling in grey dust.

This book comes in a close second to Imes's Juke Joint, a collection of photographs of various southern juke joints in Mississippi. But if you want a mystical vision -- a southern mirage, try Whispering Pines.