TidesNet—Online Collections Entry Detail

DescriptionA gelatin silver photographic print by photographer, David Stess, titled “Corry and Family and Crew, Northeastern Blueberry.” The photograph was taken on the wild blueberry barrens of Washington County, Maine and dates to about 2002. Stess was born in New Jersey and raised in Florida. He then attended the University of Miami where he studied history, film, and photography. He has spent more than 25 years documenting the yearly blueberry harvest in Washington County during a time when the blueberry industry was undergoing momentous change, from an over a century long entirely traditional hand raked harvesting process to an almost entirely mechanized harvesting process. A participant photographer, Stess not only has photographed the harvest and its workers annually for many year, but he has worked and lived right along side workers harvesting the blueberries on the barrens. This extended intimacy with the workers and the harvest, has allowed Stess to capture a full spectrum of life and work on the barrens, from living in the workers camps to the actual work of harvesting the blueberries by hand rakes. In 2013, fifty of his blueberry harvest photographs were exhibited at the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine. This photograph was a gift to the Tides Institute by the photographer. Photo caption: David Stess, gelatin silver photographic print, “Corry and Family and Crew, Northeastern Blueberry,” 11” x 14”, c.2002. Artist: David B. Stess Medium: Selenium Toned Silver Print Classification: Photographs Old Accession Number: 919 Description: Cory & Family. Crew. Northeastern Blueberry.