Coal Hollow, Volume 4: Photographs and Oral Histories

I attended a talk Ken Light gave at the Photo SF show this past summer in San Francisco. He discussed this book at length, and shared stories from his career. I also met his wife, Melanie, who conducted the interviews and wrote the text of the book. They are both wonderfully committed to social justice and the use of photography and oral history as a mechanism for communication. I purchased the book later and found the photographs to be both beautiful and informative. Ken remains committed to film and uses medium format cameras. The quality of the images shows that it really works for him. The quality of writing is superb and adds tremendously to the enjoyment of the images. This is a model for anyone interested in documentary story telling and could be used as a complementary text for a course in this subject. I'm glad that Black and White images, along with stories from the "visits" Melanie and Ken had with the families still can find a publisher.

It doesn't get much better than this, which I guess you should expect from the Professor of Photojournalism at Berkeley! In classic style, Ken Light has captured,with stunning photography, a clear slice of life in the backwaters of the US. Wife Melanie Light has added excellent context with a series of oral histories. Some of it is shocking, some of it is amusing. It is all a riveting read and a must have book for collectors and the curious.

I was so surprised by these photos and oral histories. The photos are a good as you'd expect from Ken Light, one of the best black and white photographers in the County. This is one of the poorest parts of the county with grinding economic conditions and yet these people are treated honestly and with great dignity. The moutain culture is largely unknown but is a greatly interesting part of our culture. This is a deeply touching book, a view of a often hidden people. I would highly recommend this to anyone interest in this part of the county, interested in the Appplachian culture or interested in great photography.