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Burk Uzzle on Creating Legacy Porch

When I was thinking about moving here, a new acquaintance–who I was later told was also the most famous “Madame” of a certain kind of establishment in the early days of Wilson–suggested I go to a local martial arts demonstration to see typical citizens of Wilson.

In the galleries: Burk Uzzle, Legacy Porch, 2009, chromogenic print, on loan from the collection of Lisa and Dudley Anderson. Uzzle recently wrote to exhibition curator Linda Dougherty: “Took Bryan Garner, the cowboy in the Legacy Porch picture, to see himself in the museum. He had never been there, and I suspect he had never been to a museum. He was beyond description excited and amazed.”That’s where I met Ricky, on the right, in his long white suit. Sat down beside him and we talked for an hour, during which I got his phone number and told him I wanted to take his picture if I did decide to move to Wilson. Months later, met the other man in a K&W Cafeteria, and he was dressed all in black with his cowboy hat. His thing is the legend of the Texas Rangers. He still goes around town dressed like that, but without the guns.

I was all excited because now I had a black man in a white suit, and a white man in a black. Decided to do a portrait of each of them in the same place and stitch them together so that it would look like lightning struck twice in the same place, but turned out a little different each time.

I was all excited because now I had a black man in a white suit, and a white man in a black. Decided to do a portrait of each of them in the same place and stitch them together so that it would look like lightning struck twice in the same place, but turned out a little different each time. Scouted the area for some time, eventually found these columns on the porch of the Legacy Restaurant in Elm City, N.C. Figured out when the sweet spot for the light would be–wanted the sunlight cross-lighting the columns. Had them meet me there for 15-minute shoot, but I arrived two hours early to arrange my generator, my big studio strobes, and set up the 8×10 camera. The idea was to light the men in the foreground but keep it balanced with the sunlight on the columns.

With that large-format kind of file, I was able to keep detail in the blacks and the white suit, and keep the columns beautifully detailed as well. (Now I’m doing these kinds of pictures with large-format digital for almost that same quality, as they have stopped making the film I used for so many years.) Therefore, the picture is titled Legacy Porch.

Bryan Garner, right, viewing Legacy Porch

The exhibition Burk Uzzle: American Chronicle is on view through September 25, 2016, in East Building. Admission is free.

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