Shelby Lee Adams's Blog

Shelby Lee Adams, Berthie with Pipe and John, '92

"Had sixteen children in my family—you wouldn't believe that, would you! Eight dead and eight livin'! Lord, they drank and get out and get killed, and everything. You know, you can't put sense on 'em. But when they was small, they mind me good, till they got to be twenty-two or twenty-three. Now, Lord have mercy!"

—Berthie Napier, Beehive, Kentucky, 1988

"My greatest fear as a photographer is to look into the eyes of my subject and not see my own reflection."

—Shelby Lee Adams, from his blog

Posted by: MIKE JOHNSTON, thanks to Oren