Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Brian Lesteberg


Brian Lesteberg
"Fallen Doe, Voltaire, ND, 2003"
C-Print
40 x 32 inches

I was introduced to photographer Brian Lesteberg's terrific "Raised To Hunt" series via Alec Soth's blog. Regular readers of HH will likely know about my connection to hunting and fishing; although I usually carry a camera instead of gun these days, hunting continues to inform my life and philosophy, even living in New York City. Most art viewers, no matter their background, will appreciate Lesteberg's handsome photographs for their marriage of compositional simplicity and compelling content, but those of us who recognize the visceral moments Lesteberg has captured are, I believe, moved in a more fundamental way.


Brian Lesteberg
"Bradley, Sheridan County, ND, 2003"
C-Print
40 x 32 inches

Although my favorite image in the series is "Fallen Doe, Voltaire, ND, 2003," "Bradley, Sheridan County, ND, 2003" is more closely tied to my own experience. In the fall of 2005, I wrote about a flight of Canada geese passing south over my apartment in Astoria, Queens. The birds' calls triggered memories of Thanksgiving morning goose hunts.
"[These] could well be descendants of Canadas I hunted years ago, lying on my back in a cold-hardened, fallen corn field with a 12-gauge Browning over-and-under heavy on my chest. Looking down from several thousand feet, a group of geese would spot our decoy spread and begin a long, beautiful pitch to us, a pitch that might last many minutes and, for some of the birds, would be their last. Hours later, a cooked goose would emerge from the oven, dressed and ready for Thanksgiving dinner. My family never ate turkey."

Brian Lesteberg
"Dad Field Dressing a Goose , McClusky, ND, 2001"
C-Print
40 x 32 inches
Lesteberg's work has the same poetic resonance as Alessandra Sanguinetti's pictures; both photographers are evidently attached to the processes and rituals they document, but they allow themselves enough remove to open up their work to interpretion.


Brian Lesteberg
"Hoof Track with Blood, Voltaire, ND, 2003"
C-Print
40 x 32 inches


Photo credit: all images courtesy Brian Lesteberg

5 comments:

Steppen Wolf said...

Yes, you are right - these images are moving and evocative and sometimes disturbing as in when Bradley is lying low to get at the goose. But they are wonderful in the sense that they open up a wealth of interpretations and you rightly point out the same. The parallels drawn to Alessandra’s work is apt.

Anonymous said...

I love the blog that you have. I was wondering if you would link my blog to yours and in return I would do the same for your blog. If you want to, my site name is American Legends and the URL is:

www.americanlegends.info

If you want to do this just go to my blog and in one of the comments just write your blog name and the URL and I will add it to my site.

Thanks,
David

Hungry Hyaena said...

David:

While I appreciate sports as much as the next guy, I think very few HH readers want to link to an all sports blog. Thanks for checking out the site, though, and good luck with American Legends.

Anonymous said...

I love these photos, more than anything! They make my insides feel oh so good!
RC

Anonymous said...

I own one. I love it. Highly recommended.