I researched Alec Soth’s Sleeping by the Mississippi (Soth, 2004)) and in particular his interview by Schuman in See Saw Magazine (Schumann, 2004). Quotes given in this piece are from that magazine article.

The first thing that strikes me when I look at the series that whilst it is inspired by a journey along the Mississippi, the images are not of the river itself, or of the buildings or land along its banks.  The images are of the people he found there, see Fig. 1, and on occasion isolated views of buildings or scenes shown in close proximity, see Fig. 2.

When asked about this ‘journey’ Soth says “The idea was that one picture would lead to the next” but his evolved, he states that the river does not flow in a straight line, it meanders and that is what he wanted to do, “just wander”.  He found that “the river is now a worn and faded place” and this overall feeling is what I feel when I look at his images.

As a body of work, I am not sure that I see them telling a story of travelling along the river, but they do create a sense of place, of all the lands that are along it.  

When asked about how his images seem to go further than the objective and feel less cold and distant Soth replies “Yes, yes, yes! This is exactly what I want … Photography is very good at science … But I’m also getting a bit worn down by that methodology … sometimes you want to see some passion, listen to a love song, and so on.  This is exactly where I am with my photography at the moment, wanting to further my abilities to somehow inject my own feelings and emotions into the images, to express them.  

Discussing the sequence of the images within Soth’s book he talks of Robert Frank’s model, “he kept his process open. His sequencing functions as a kind of rhythm; it carries you through the book.  He repeats certain themes, but keeps moving.  Again, the structure really is based on poetry”.  I have come to learn that this sequencing and editing is as important, maybe even more important than the image capture itself.  It is a skill I think I am getting better at developing although my tutor found another lapse in my Assignment 1 for this course where just one of my images was taken at a different elevation to the rest.  That might have been alright if intended as a break or deliberate act to make the viewer stop, but it wasn’t.  I like the way Soth describes the flow here and think it might help me.

Lastly, Soth is asked about his inclusion of selected notes at the end of the book, to help readers know a bit more about the images when they return to them.  South replies “I hunger to tell stories.   But it is dangerous.  Words can easily ruin pictures”.  Again, wise words that I am struggling to to heed of sometimes.  I am conscious of a deep desire to tell the story either with words, or with excessive detail in an image.  Of course, whilst all images as polysemic, this detracts from the polysemy and detracts from the viewers experience.  I need to keep trying and heed these words.  Fig. 3 is a good example.  I had made up my own story about this image which was a good one, but different to the story Soth described.  As it happens, the real story is interesting and so does make me look at the image again and so perhaps this illustrates Soth’s point, sometimes it is ok to tell the story, but remember it is dangerous.  

Bibliography

Soth, A., 2004. Alec Soth | Sleeping by the Mississippi. [online] Alecsoth.com. Available at: <https://alecsoth.com/photography/projects/sleeping-by-the-mississippi> [Accessed 29 January 2021].

Schumann, A., 2004. SEESAW MAGAZINE: “Sleeping by the Mississippi”, An Interview with Alec Soth. [online] Seesawmagazine.com. Available at: <http://www.seesawmagazine.com/soth_pages/soth_interview.html> [Accessed 25 January 2021].

Figures

Figure 1. Soth, A., 2000. Bonnie, Port Gibson, MS.. [image] Available at: <https://alecsoth.com/photography/projects/sleeping-by-the-mississippi> [Accessed 29 January 2021].

Figure 2. Soth, A., 2002. Jimmie’s Apartment, Memphis, TN. [image] Available at: <https://alecsoth.com/photography/projects/sleeping-by-the-mississippi> [Accessed 29 January 2021].

Figure 3. Soth, A., 2002. Charles, Vasa, MN. [image] Available at: <https://alecsoth.com/photography/projects/sleeping-by-the-mississippi> [Accessed 29 January 2021].