Debbie Fleming Caffery

I also found the work of Debbie Fleming Caffery to be very captivating. Caffery has photographed the sugar cane harvesting industry of her home state of Louisiana every year since she was very young and is her only lifelong project. She has also photographed the plight of prostitutes in Mexican brothels, the carnivals in Mexico, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Rita in New Orleans, and the aftermath of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Caffery’s photos are all black and white film and in the documentary about her work, she says that she will never work with digital photography. 

She says that she sees the world as black and white and is very close to the printing process. She views her subject matter in its negative form before actually taking the photos. 

Because she has such a unique artistic eye, the lighting, shadows, highlights, and tonality of her black and white photographs are always visually stimulating and thought provoking. She also often works with movement and depth of field, both very visually interesting photographic techniques.

She also said that she is very interested in smoke, which is conveyed in many of her photographs of the sugar cane industry, which I think is a very cool effect. I think that her passion and persistence with her work of the sugar cane industry is very admirable. When I see her photographs I feel like I can hear the burning and crackling of the sugar cane and feel the heat of the fire, which is a very challenging feat for an artist to accomplish. I think that the emotional and visual depth of her images is rarely paralleled by other photographers. It is extremely difficult to photograph in the night with no natural light to work with, and her ability to create such effective night photographs is also very impressive.

I think that the photographs of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina are historic and inspire people to sympathize with the victims of its destruction. She said that she was appalled by the slow and unorganized responses from rescue teams after the hurricanes and wanted to pay her respects and show her empathy for the victims through her images. Some of her photographs, like those of the people singing and praying in the gospel churches, show the hopefulness of the victims. She also hopes that her images help the process of catharsis for those who were affected by the storms.

Some of her images of the prostitutes in the brothels of Mexico are quite disturbing and even frightening. One of my favorite images is of a prostitute who is standing by the stairs and transparent, looking like a ghost. She really opens viewers’ eyes to the lives of the women, and the dangers, hardships, and repressions implicit in their careers. Like Adams, Caffery’s intentions with her photographs are very sincere and she respects the dignity of all of her subjects. Her images bring a sense of humanity to her subjects, which help people to relate to and sympathize with them. It also helps viewers to respect women who are involved in a very provocative and controversial business.