My friend Rob Amberg is a photographer. That's like saying Bob Dylan writes songs. Rob focuses his most personal work on Madison County, in the mountains of North Carolina, along the Tennessee border. Now Madison County is about as rural as you can get. It's Appalachia with a capital A, pretty poor, with lots of outhouses still in use. But it's easy to miss the depth, vibrancy, and richness of the people who live there. Rob doesn't. He knows the people and their ways. Most importantly, he treats them with respect.
Rob has had 36 of his photos published in Big Bridge, which is an online poetry and arts magazine. Take a look. Take your time. You won't see a bunch of thumbnails from which to pick the two or three you want to look at - rather, you have to page through them, one at a time, by clicking on each photo. It's slow, like the pace of life in the mountains, and it's worth it.
I have a personal interest in Rob's work, besides admiring it immensely. Some of these photos were taken very close to my house. And I know one or two of the people who appear in this collection. Rob's photos do great justice to my home county.
Skip, I just perused Rob's photos and you are so right, it is like saying Bob Dylan writes songs. He captures the essence of Appalachia and Madison County beautifully!
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