Mike Disfarmer (1884-1959)

Small-town photographers in the first half of the 20th century were once as plentiful as they were taken for granted. The emotional demands of the job could be formidable, even if the artistic challenges traditionally were not. When people lived in one place for many years the relationship between photographers and subjects was often stable and long-term as well. The same person you had posed as a baby on her mother's lap might, if you became a trusted friend, ask for an Easter Sunday or a baptism or a graduation picture and maybe, eventually, for portraits of the wedding party.

It's a puzzle that Mike Meyer, better known as Mike Disfarmer, fell into this gregarious profession and a miracle that he succeeded at it, for most reports indicate that he lacked even basic social skills. The people in the small town of Heber Springs, Arkansas, where he made photographic portraits for more than forty years, remember neither the places he worked nor the man himself as attractive. For a good part of his life (1884-1959) he seems to have been more feared than liked.

Read the full biography here.

[Tipped by Jonny Johansson, creative director, Acne Jeans via Details Magazine]

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