Alec Soth

Alec Soth is an American born photographer who is most widely recognised for his large-scale, large format, american documentary projects. Soth became inspired by the work of Diane Arbus, who is also an American photographer but who is noted for her black and white square photographs of social 'outcasts' (dwarfs, giants, transgender people, nudists). After becoming inspired Soth set out to create his own self-printed book which was titled 'Sleeping by the Mississippi'. The book includes forty-six images that captures illness, procreation, race, crime, learning, art, death, religion, politics and cheap sex, the book has also been associated with Robert Franks 'The Americans'. Taking inspiration from Arbus' work Soth travelled to the towns and villages that follow the Mississippi to document the strange areas and different people he encountered. He would ask permission of the people he photographed, letting them become more comfortable with him before beginning to capture. I feel this technique works well within his images because it lets Soth take time to consider how he wants them to be perceived by the audience which hopefully creates a more natural looking image. I don't ask permission from my subjects due to me trying to keep the moment as real as possible, and my work is not portrait based its more how the subject interacts with the space naturally in that moment. His work is a mixture of landscapes, interiors and documentary based portraiture, I feel the work connects well to my own because it documents the neglected towns along the Mississippi like I document the peripheral edges of Swinton. Some of his images provide great narrative for the viewer, making them think why has that object been left like that which is what I hope to achieve within my own photographs.