Freeze Frame
Thomas Hammond recently quit his job at the Richland County Public Library because he wants to devote his time and effort to his photography. In a pandemic. In a recession.
That takes courage. It takes artistic passion and a real belief in oneself.
Hammond, it seems, is still discovering himself. And, most importantly, the “who” is beginning to ooze out from amongst the frames, amid the interruption of time and life during Covid. If one looks at photographs of Thomas - his interesting ‘selfies’ - one will discover a defining nature reflective of a hidden light.
Thomas Hammond.
I ran across Hammond’s photographs late one night while wandering around the Internet. I wondered who Thomas was, what he photographed. I was particularly interested in his photographic pursuits since hearing him talk about his experience photographing Central American migrants as they approached the US border in Tijuana in 2018. What I found in my search was entirely different, frozen in time and a lot closer to home.
This past July his grandmother died.
Given the Covid pandemic and knowing that I was plundering the richness of private thoughts and emotions, we met in a written conversation. Thomas was struggling to put into words the essence of his 96-year-old grandmother Callie. He let his photographs speak for him. It was a way to get closer to her.
“I knew I wanted to photograph the house while it was still in the state she left it. But beyond that I didn’t really have a plan. A few close family members gathered there after the funeral so I brought my camera with me and just started taking photos of the different rooms and some objects that were meaningful to me. There’s a lot of stuff there that has been there since I first remember coming to the house as a child.”
In this body of work I saw the full depth of what is defined as Southern photography by photographer and curator Richard McCabe of the Ogden Museum. “The memory, the experience of place in the American South, cultural mythology and reality, deep familial connections to the land, the tension between the past and present, and the transitory nature of change in the New South.”
Reflecting on his imagery, Thomas reveals that he “was probably channeling some thoughts I’ve been having about the idea of permanence in a world that is constantly changing around us.”
EMOTIONAL HARDWOOD
White Oak flourish in the woods around the family home outside Greer, SC. It takes about 100 years for a White Oak to grow to 100 feet. A lifetime. The White Oak was just a sapling when his grandparents moved into their home, but it was cut down due to old age. The stump that remains is significant and has a created a touching remembrance for the family. Thomas says that his grandmother became emotional about the tree when she was asked about it days before she passed.
“That tree might have been the last thing from the life she knew that would never come back,” Thomas says. “She was a real trooper all the way to the end, but I imagine everyone has a breaking point. And, as her physical body really began to fail, she may have decided it was time to let go and move on.”
Hammond’s images are nuanced with the quiet respect he feels for the family home. In these photographs, Thomas reveals evidence of his own character and his purpose - a last document, an artistic statement, a loving memory.
As the subtle light bends from the woods beyond, Thomas finds his inspiration.
“She could name every living thing around her and had nearly a century’s worth of experience watching the environment change around her. I suppose all that played a role in my interest in woods and the natural environment and probably inspires me to document that specific place (the family woods) as well as the greater southern Appalachian region where she and my ancestors made a life in.”
Finding permanence in change, Hammond appears to be following his passion. Beyond the frame, and the demands of good light and composition, one finds in Hammond’s work the essence of nature and the spirit of photographic art.
That takes courage.
Find more at https://thomashammondphoto.com/ .
All images ©Thomas Hammond 2020.