Offerings to the Visual World

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Offerings to the Visual World

Michigan photographer Don Hudson has been taking pictures for decades, but only recently decided to digitize his body of work and share it on the web. A new book of his photos called 'From the Archives' was just released and it's pretty awesome.

Maybe I have a genetic predisposition to obsess over photos. I’m not sure how else to begin to explain it. As a kid growing up in the 1950s, I was the subject photographed on occasions of family milestones—birthdays, holidays, vacations, etc…  What I remember most of these events was how the camera changed the atmosphere. When it came out, we had places to stand and positions to maintain. While the adult with the camera had a job to do. There was a power in that machine. What was going on before subtly changed in the presence of the camera. I know this kind of thing happens even more now than ever, and that most people don’t think anything of it. But somehow, unknown to me as a child, the camera’s transformative power lodged itself in my consciousness. And as I got a little older, I wanted that job as the family documentarian, so I could feel that power and responsibility.

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Is this fascination with the power of the camera unusual? Probably. But I suspect it is in the heart of many other photographers, it's their sense of purpose. Is use of a camera in experiencing the world a crutch? Perhaps. I prefer to think that my obsession allows me to consider an alternate set of “facts” about our shared visual world. In the early 1970’s I decided to commit fully to this fascination and  surround myself with a small group of like-minded people. What took place was an education in the language of photography. The images we made and shared amounted to our own “conversations “ with photographic tradition, our mentors, and each other. Maybe only half of the pictures in this book were ever seen by anyone back then—and until 2009, when I began to post the images online, no one but me had seen the rest. In a sense, this book represents a de-classified dossier of evidence of one photographer’s relationship with a camera in his culture. For me, the photographs are my own offerings to the visual generosity provided by that culture.

Don Hudson is an avid amateur photographer from South Lyon, Michigan. He has been taking pictures for decades and only recently began sharing his rich archives through the magic of the internet. A collection of selected images (mostly from Michigan in the late 1970's and early 1980's), entitled From the Archives, was recently published by Editions FP&CF.  The above text is Don's own preface to the book. You can buy one here. Trust us, it's beautiful.

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