Lange and Taylor - Let Us Now Praise Men

In the photographic essay, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Agee and Evans take us down a southern dirt road and introduce us to three average white tenant families through the means of photos and in-depth analyses of their eight week assignment. This is my take on the beginning of the story, the four clusters of captionless photographs; the order in each grouping, what thoughts these images provoke, and their pivotal role in laying a foundation for the following text. Agee puts the clusters of photographs in the very beginning of the book, which seems to be an effective way to spark the reader’s interest. Nothing helps a person connect with a story like being able to visualize the people being mentioned. You look at the photos, the people in them, the living conditions, and try to get a feel for their everyday life. Analyzing the pictures before reading the text really lets your mind wander and you almost start writing the story in your own head. You make assumptions about why some of the people are frowning, why they look so thin, and then you want to read to find out if you were right or not. Our class spent over an hour discussing almost every aspect of the photos, trying to figure out their meaning; assuming they had one, which really shows the genius in putting photos before a story.

The images tell a story of poverty and hard times yet they also show a strong bond between each individual family. Agee and Evans spent eight weeks with these families so I believe the reason they add group photos to the clusters is to pay tribute to the closeness of the clans. It’s almost like he is saying no matter how dismal the living condition appeared in the earlier photos, the family still toughed it out together. Yes, their morale seemed low in many pictures but the voice of the group pictures seemed stern and convincing saying, “We’ll be damned if we let this break us apart.” Hard work, harder times, and strong family