LICK CREEK LINE by Ron Jude

Ron Jude
LICK CREEK LINE

Publisher: MACK

A collection of works by American photographer Ron Jude. This book explores the whimsy of photographic empiricism and the gray area between documentary and fiction, expanding and amplifying the appeal that the author continues to depict.

In a sequence of images, the book punctuates contrasting moments of violence and beauty, following a wandering journey in the remote areas of Idaho, USA, where a trapper walks while meticulously checking his trap lines. Amidst the interplay of various photographs—landscapes, architecture, eroding resort communities, and the solitary, secretive work of trapping pine martens for their fur—this work highlights the cultural, stagnant, and arbitrary nature brought about by moral criticism.

Echoing the previous two works related to his childhood in central Idaho, this book, with its undercurrent of mystery and melancholy, examines the complexities of self and place through the narrative of photography in a multifaceted, three-part structure. As a central work, 'ALPINE STAR' (2006) functioned as a fictional sociological archive, and 'EMMETT' (2010) explored the quagmire of memory and autobiography, whereas this book creates its subject through the sleight of hand produced by a traditional photo essay.