My initial response to seeing William Christenberry in the paper on Sunday was: NOT AGAIN! HOW MANY FULL-PAGE ARTICLES IN THE NYTIMES DOES THIS GUY NEED? DOES ARTHUR O. SULZBERGER OWN A WHOLE SUITE OF THESE IMAGES AND HE'S ENSURING THAT HIS INVESTMENT CONTINUES TO ACCRUE VALUE? AREN'T THERE ANY OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS BESIDES CHRISTENBERRY (AND NIXON) WHO MAKE EPISODIC WORK WORTH MENTIONING (AD NAUSEUM) IN THE NYTIMES???
And then this morning I sat down with my breakfast and read the article- hmm'ing and ahh'ing all the way through- not reading (or learning) anything new, but remembering the first time I heard/saw him speak about his work, and how for years all I wanted to do was go to Hale County and walk about like Walt Whitman in Allen Ginsberg's A Supermarket in California, summoning up the spirit of Walker Evans, and trying my best to avoid Christenberry seeing me ripping him off.
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