“No man has been photographed more than I have” (Walt Whitman).
According to Ed Folsom in his article, Photographs and Photographers, Walt Whitman was “the most photographed writer of the nineteenth century,” with over 130 portraits taken during his lifetime. Photography, then, was a crucial and integral piece of Whitman’s life, capturing his journey from a young man to the old grey beard likeness that has become so recognizable and synonymous to many. My final project consisted of a photo essay that traced the decay of Whitman’s perception of the world by using his poetry and a biographical connection to the socio/cultural context of America in the 19th century. Just as the photographs during his life reflected and chronicled both the beauty and the wane, throughout my photo essay excerpts from Whitman’s poetic works are visualized and further illuminated by current emblematic photos, chronologically starting with his early years as a Romantic and Nature inspired poet, followed by his poetry reflecting on the savagery of the Civil War and its socio-political ills, and, finally, ending with his reflections on, not only his own life, but of Man, Nature, and the world to come in the twilight of his years.
The research for my final project consisted of both broad historical overview of America during the 19th century and Whitman’s life from 1819 to 1892. Additionally, with each photo in the essay, critical sources were used to aid in the close-reading and analysis of the selected Whitman poems to further emphasize the visuals representing the excerpts of the poems. Every time I read or analyze a work of poetry, I cannot help but visualize what I am reading in my head. For me, this visualization helps in grasping what is being written on the page and it makes the message more tangible and powerful when I see it in my mind’s eye, rather than just reading flat words on the page. This is why I decided to focalize my final project through the medium of a Photo Essay.
I hope that with the creation of this photo essay, it will give students the opportunity to look at these poems in a different light and, hopefully, further emphasize the messages presented in each work on a grander, more elaborate and invested scale. By seeing these excerpts from Whitman’s work captured through the medium of photography, it heightens the decay to which Whitman experienced both physically and mentally during his time as a poet and as a human being.
My favorite part of working on this project was being able to spend the time out in Nature and capture the many facets of it from all over Charleston. From Sullivan’s Island to The Angel Oak, I felt like a tourist in my own home while I was out exploring and taking pictures. Only having a few days to capture and edit the photos for the project required me to be flexible when challenges came up. Two of the biggest challenges I faced were getting a sunrise photo and a photo of a dismantled ship. I tried on two different occasions to get a photo of a sunrise but cloudy weather inhibited that from happening. Near Pineapple Fountain, out in the marsh, there had always been a broken sailboat resting by the shore and I thought this would be the perfect canvas for my photo, but unfortunately, it was removed prior to when I went to take the photo. This forced my project to shift from 15 photos to 12 to accommodate these challenges. However, the flexibility to do so enabled me to tighten the focus on the photos I was successful in getting and, therefore, established a more significant connection to both Whitman and the excerpts being elaborated.
Photo Essay:
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