October 2009

Shaker Scenes
October 27, 2009: One of my favorite photographers of all time is Sam Abell. Sam grew up in Ohio, and later attended the University of Kentucky, and became a staffer for National Geographic. He went to Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill on his last day in Lexington in 1969, with friends to say goodbye.

In Abell's book The Photographic Life, he said, "Twenty years passed before I returned. Shakertown was unchanged, but I was not. Two decades of travel had taught me to see and I was struck by the strength of Shaker design and by the subtlety of its setting in Central Kentucky."

I was at Shaker Village last week and had a few minutes to spare to photograph the architecture and furniture. Like Sam Abell, I was struck by the simplicity of the lines and light of Shaker Village.

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