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By Brandon Brady
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An Amish boy (1964) in William Albert Allard’s Portraits
of America.
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American Geographic
The portrait of America is rapidly changing. But a simpler time, in existence just weeks ago, is captured for posterity in National Geographic photographer William Albert Allard's Portraits of America. A kid grimaces as a calf is branded. Clouds roll over a minor league baseball park in El Paso, Texas. Impromptu portraits focus on rodeo star Tuf Hedeman and Blues musician Keb Mo. The retrospective of Allard's career becomes a bittersweet remembrance of our nation.
Allard, who will sign and discuss Portraits of America at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, was on assignment in Italy on Sept. 11. With no access to CNN, he was forced to watch events unfold via an Italian telecast. "I couldn't understand what they were saying. But you couldn't help but understand what you saw," he says.
Overcome with various feelings as he watched the Twin Towers collapse, Allard questioned his own professional integrity. "I thought I wasn't the journalist I thought I was," he explains.
It's an almost inconceivable notion coming from a man who was permitted to photograph both the Amish of Pennsylvania and the Hutterites of Montana. The two communities do not believe, for varying reasons, in being photographed. Allard overcame that hurdle and was accepted in both cultures, producing rarely seen glimpses of their lives.
Though regularly finding success, Allard isn't entirely sure why he's been welcomed into such closed societies. "I've always taken a very simple approach. ... I simply say what I want to do, and in the case of the Amish and the Hutterites, why I thought it was important," he says.
For Allard it's important to photograph the various pockets of American culture, subjects he's long been drawn to, without marring the atmosphere which surrounds them.
"We sometimes tend to forget that we're in somebody's back yard. We're always in somebody's back yard," he explains. "I know it sounds very simple. I don't know how you can make the pictures I make, unless you like people."
E-mail Brandon Brady
Previously in Writer's Block
Writer's Block
By Brandon Brady
(September 20, 2001)
Writer's Block
By Brandon Brady
(September 6, 2001)
Writer's Block
By Brandon Brady
(August 9, 2001)
more...
Other articles by Brandon Brady
Writer's Block (July 26, 2001)
Writer's Block (July 12, 2001)
The Dish (July 5, 2001)
more...
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