The creepy photos of Ralph Eugene Meatyard

I got to thinking about Ralph Eugene Meatyard after yesterday's post of vintage homemade Halloween costumes: https://imgur.com/gallery/f4pAt9F

Meatyard (his real name) was born in Normal, Illinois and joined the Navy during WWII.

After finishing college he settled in Lexington, Kentucky and started his career as an optician.

The company he worked for also sold cameras. He bought one when his first child was born.

His bosses were members of the Lexington Camera Club, which he joined soon thereafter.

Through the club he developed an interest in photography as a creative medium.

He first exhibit was at the University of Kentucky in 1956.

Around that time he met the photographer Minor White, and through him Meatyard developed an interest in Zen philosophy.

That and modern jazz continued to influence his work.

Most of his photos were taken in derelict farms and woods around Lexington.

His family and friends served as his models.

Masks and dolls were common props.

Masks expressed the uncertain nature of surfaces, suggesting an unknowable reality.

Occasionally, blurred action and double exposures would heighten the surrealism.

Not all his photos were so disturbing though.

He also took meditative images of calmer subjects like twigs or the play of light on water.

He would often shoot in great bursts...

...but then leave his rolls of film undeveloped for some time.

Apparently there are loads of images that are still unpublished.

He coached Little League and served as president of his PTA.

He developed friendships with other notable Kentuckians, like the monk and writer Thomas Merton...

...and also Guy Davenport and Wendell Berry.

In 1971, Meatyard, Davenport and Berry collaborated on the book "The Unforeseen Wilderness"...

...which advocated for the preservation of Kentucky's Red River Gorge...

...which had been slated for destruction by an Army Corps of Engineers dam.

Meatyard died of cancer in 1972.

His ashes are scattered in Red River Gorge.