Hank Snow

www.dennismook.com

As much as I enjoy photographing nature and landscapes, there is something about photographing people that gives me great satisfaction.  Capturing the human spirit, the essence of a person is timeless--and hard to do well.  We all know that photographing people is much more difficult than making images of landscapes and, to do it right, really takes time, talent, perseverance and even luck. By no means would I classify myself as even adequate as a photographer of people, but I have had some luck on my side at times when I have come across individuals who merit making an image.  I prefer environmental images of individuals rather than posed or formal portraits.

Over the next few weeks, I plan on sharing some of the people images I have made along with the story behind them.

I first met Hank Snow around 25 years ago.  He lives in a small, rural Virginia town near the North Carolina border.  I first noticed his property by the wooden caboose, the old railroad depot turned into a 1940s general store, full sized windmill, automobile garage, line of old Edsels, old farm implements and other old industrial items made by the hand of man.  A friend of mine and I were in the area looking for a regional short line railroad as we did a lot of railroad photography back then and spotted his place.  It begged us to stop and find out how this all came about and who was responsible.

That is when we met Hank.  He was in his 60s then and as spry and full of life as anyone I had met.  He made his living restoring old Ford Mustangs and other old Fords for others.  We introduced ourselves and asked why he had all the old collectibles around his property.  He said he was saving them from destruction.  He had the old railroad station moved to his property and filled it with goods from an old general store so young people would have an idea of how it was in the past.  He bought the old wooden caboose for the same reason.  He said someone had to preserve them and it might as well be him.  Preserve the past for the next couple of generations was his goal.

We made many images back then.  Hank let us in the old depot and we photographed the recreated general store with all the items a store in the 1940s would stock on its shelves.  We walked around and make images of many of his artifacts.  After a couple of hours, we thanked Mr. Snow and went on our way.  Over the years, I passed his house many times and saw a slow deterioration of some of his collection, especially the old wooden caboose, which was rotting away.  Only in 2011 when I was in his area prowling the back roads for images, did I stop and see if he was still alive.  Boy, was he!

Hank was in his 80s and still as energetic and alive as he was those many years before.  In fact, he was working on restoring an old 1940s Ford for a customer.  Still working with his hands and keeping his mind sharp.

As we were talking outside, I asked him if he minded if I made a portrait of him.  He asked what for and I replied just for the record.  He said I should photograph his place, with all the old stuff and give it to the newspaper to run a story as the town was trying to have it all removed.  He had saved it once, but feared it would now be lost.

I made his image, made a few more of some of the things on his property and then went inside his old garage, where I found he was in the middle of the 40s Ford project.

I need to go back and give a copy of this portrait of Mr. Snow.  In his face, I see a life of hard work, concern, dignity, honesty and caring for others.  The lines in his face are cut deeply and the whites of his eyes are bloodshot, but the clear blue of his pupils tells the story of a man who knows where he has been, where he is going and what he needs to do.  Those eyes cut like a laser.  He deserves to be remembered as there may not be many like him around in the future. 

Thanks for looking.  Enjoy!

Dennis Mook


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