Coming home to Appalachia: Photographer Roger May
http://theweek.com/article/index/261629/coming-home-to-appalachia#axzz33ClMqjF6
The Week
Coming home to Appalachia
A wandering photographer returns to his formative stomping grounds
By Sarah Eberspacher
May 19, 2014
Documentary photographer Roger May left his Appalachian home as a teenager. When he returned as an adult, he struggled to connect his memory of the region with its reality.
A self-described wanderer, May, 39, discovered that his camera helped him close that divide and relearn this part of the country that had so shaped him.
"Sometimes truly being able to see requires us to leave for awhile and come back with a hunger for home," May said in an interview. "As an Appalachian, I'm familiar with stories of image takers rather than image makers. I don't want to be another taker in a long line of takers from Appalachia."
May's personal, visual journey to his roots, Testify: A Visual Love Letter to Appalachia, was published in April with the help of a Kickstarter campaign held last year....
A small sampling of Roger's photographs may be found at the link posted above. He also has a website at
http://rogermayphotography.com/testify#/id/i4668463