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Cut It?
“Most of us agreed that this photo was too Hollywood,” says illustrations editor Susan Welchman. “The young man was a little too handsome. His skin seemed too perfect for farming. Everything had stopped, and it came off as static.”
Or Keep It?
“Richard really liked this frame, and we talked about it so much in trying to decide whether to use it in the article that it seemed the best selection for Final Edit,” Welchman continued. “Black-and-white photography is like poetry. It gives you an impression, and it’s up to you to imagine the rest. How blue are his jeans? What color is the tractor? You have to figure it out for yourself.”
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| Photograph by Richard Olsenius |
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Lake Wobegon
A Life on the Land
Muscle and machine stand ready for work on the Kerfeld farm in central Minnesota, where Matt, 17, watches his dad head out to bale alfalfa hay. “You can feel the human connection to the landscape,” says photographer Richard Olsenius, a Minnesota native. “This is my James Dean picture.”
There was some disagreement about cutting this shot from the article. Designer Robert Gray thought the image was arresting but felt it looked too much like an advertisement. All agreed that black-and-white photography suits the story by Garrison Keillor. “It strips an image to its essentials,” says Olsenius. “Black-and-white photography is like radio,” adds illustrations editor Susan Welchman. “Both require imagination.”
Check out the feature story this photo was originally taken for and hear author Garrison Keillor as he reads his article. Then go to Sights & Sounds and watch fictional Lake Wobegon come to life.
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Zoom In on more images by Richard Olsenius. |
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