My interest in photography began as a child in Natchez, Mississippi. When I was eleven my father and his best friend Tom Gandy rescued thousands of abandoned glass and celluloid negatives made by three generations of our town’s photographers going back to the 1870’s. This material eventually became the subject of three books. As men unloaded the boxes into our barn, they set me up with some of the antique photo paper and 8x10 glass plates, and sitting in the driveway I learned to make sun prints. I have never forgotten the magic of seeing images emerge from nothing. From that day I have always taken pictures.
In the summer before my senior year at Yale, inspired by the historical significance of Dr. Gandy’s work, I began a project of documenting what I saw as the disappearing world of my own youth. I returned to New Haven that fall determined to learn how to “do photography right.” Walker Evans was teaching in the School of Art and took an interest in my project and invited me into his graduate seminar. With his gentle encouragement I began the project in earnest. He became both mentor and touchstone as I returned to Mississippi after graduation to complete the project over the following year.
I did not become a documentary photographer. I went on to a career in architecture, with photography as my respite – something I could do purely for myself. Except for a few small gallery shows, until now I have never shown my work. I am currently working on a book of the 1972 Mississippi photographs, to be published in 2026.
David Holmes Peabody
April, 2024