The Retort

The Beauty of Sepia Tone Photography

Tue January 19th, 2010 by Lou Donaldson Of The Retort Staff

Though the senior show of Kerry Cash entitled New West Generation came and went quickly, it still deserves to be acknowledged. In her show Kerry displays a mastery of the photographic arts which can be seen in the way her images, taken at both Crow Fair and at the Montana State University Billings Pow Wow, capture not only an image but also a feeling. These photos do not have the “feeling” of being a regular snapshot photograph, but have the uncanny ability to transport the viewer to the time and place being shown. The smell of the dirt in the air, the warmth from the sun, the sound of hooves and shoes upon the ground are all conveyed in Kerry’s pieces. Whether one is observing the photograph of the little boy walking around looking for something but yet nothing in particular, or at the piece aptly entitled Red Bull Warrior which features a dancer in all his finery chugging a large (16 oz) can of Red Bull, it is easy for the viewer to identify with the subjects in the pictures.

If the photographs had been in color they would have been too “busy,” meaning that the eyes would have been distracted by all the different colors to look at in the image, and therefore the images would have lost the “power and magic” that they have. However, being as the images are in sepia tone (brown tonal scale) and black and white, they are thus imbued with an appearance of “life” that can be seen in the photograph’s subjects.

Underneath the title of her show Kerry had this short inscription: “Some say our western traditions are vanishing…others disagree.” The embodiment of this statement can be seen in the image entitled New West Generation in which a group of people both young and old are sitting/standing on the fence rails watching the rodeo, a staple of western tradition. This picture in and of itself proves that though the faces may change the traditions and values that we hold dear transcend time.