'Remarkably talented': the epic photography of Kenny Rogers
Looming mountains, ghostly presidents, trees that stand like gods … the country star was a trained photographer – and his brooding images caught the sinister side of America
From the fatalistic blues of The Gambler to the mournful lament of Lucille, Kenny Rogers sang songs full of emotion, courage, drama and heartache. Although his cautionary Americana fables didn’t always have a happy ending, the raspy-voiced musician delivered them with more warmth than a shot of bourbon around a campfire, somehow ensuring that you always ended up smiling.
But the celebrated country singer, who has died of natural causes at the age of 81, wasn’t just great at telling stories through song. He also used photography, releasing several books, and receiving an honorary degree from the Professional Photographers of America (PPA). “He’s obviously well-known as an entertainer,” said PPA president Ralph Romaguera when giving Rogers his award in 2014, “but he truly is a remarkably talented photographer, too.”
Covering landscapes and portraits, Rogers’ images shift between giddily capturing the larger-than-life personas of such friends as Ray Charles and Dolly Parton, to documenting the natural beauty of America’s vast countryside. He could make familiar sights look like a fairytale: his glowing night time shot of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, proudly uploaded to his Facebook page in 2017, makes the 16th US president look more like a mystical levitating god than a statue for tourists to mill around.
Armed with a 35mm Brownie Hawkeye, Rogers enjoyed taking long walks on the look-out for unique trees. The camera also became a way to stave off boredom while touring America and bringing his signature brand of accessibly nostalgic country pop to fan-filled arenas. “I only worked an hour a day,” Rogers said of life on the road in 2014. “That meant I had 23 hours with nothing to do.”
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/mar/23/remarkably-talented-the-epic-photography-of-kenny-rogers
I think I will go and see if he published a book on his photography................