Odd Reveries

The Tragedies of Faylene Caulfield

Faylene Caulfield caught horror in the lens of her camera. Tragedies.

Her father gave her that camera in the summer of 1929. By autumn he was dead. Drowned. Her first photograph is the beach near the family home, the day after he disappeared into the sea.

From then on, she photographed places where tragedy had happened or, inexplicably, soon would. She was drawn to the darkness, the pain, the misery. It was what she knew. What the world showed her.

Not one explains itself; they are simply dated. Still, you can see the tragedy that happened. Or the one that will.

Until someone whispers in your ear, a photograph is only a photograph. The whisper opens your mind, and you see what you did not want to see: the horror just outside the view.

  1. Oct. 19, 1929; Bay Ocean, Oregon

  2. Jan. 5, 1939; Absaroka Flats, Montana

  3. Jan. 29, 1948; Mather Asylum for Chronic Diseases, Blackwood Notch, Vermont

  4. July 27, 1948; Berea Fellowship, Dry Slough, Mississippi

  5. May 21, 1949; Fields outside Blue River, Indiana

  6. Nov. 16, 1953; Exit 13, Herniston, Nebraska

  7. May 1, 1956; Motte's Crossing, South Carolina

  8. Apr. 18, 1957; Assembly of the Firstborn, Lamine Creek, Oregon

  9. Aug. 06, 1957; Grand Providence Hotel, Bordgrave Mills

  10. Sept. 3, 1959; Pemaquid Harbor, New England

  11. April 2, 1965; Mesa Linda, Arizona

  12. July 5, 1968; True Vine Farmhome, Maringouin Bend, Louisiana

  13. Sept. 14, 1969; Gallatin, Wyoming

  14. June 27, 1970; Kamiah, Idaho

  15. Dec. 20, 1972; Progress Court, New York City

  16. Feb. 19, 1974; Portland, Maine

  17. Oct. 12, 1975; Skagit Valley, Oregon

  18. June 19, 1978; The Low Boiler Bar, New York City

  19. Mar. 30, 1979; Barn outside Namakagin Junction, Wisconsin

  20. Mar. 11, 1980; Cerro del Oro, New Mexico

  21. Sept. 30, 1980; St. Joseph's School For Boys, New York

  22. Aug. 07, 1983; Fairfield Mills, Iowa