Beth Yarnelle Edwards - Suburban Dreams Revisited

Beth Yarnelle Edwards is an American photographer who began a portraiture project surrounding the theme of suburbia in 1997, and then returned to the subjects in 2017. She captured the differences that occurred over the 20 years by interviewing her subjects before each shoot, and deciding on a scene to set up. By doing this, Edwards creates an intriguing mix of candid and artificial in her images, more of a representation of reality than a documentation of it. To find potential subjects, Edwards holds interviews to find out what their daily life is like, how each subject relates to one another, and which of those elements she wants to include in her final images. When shooting, the subjects are set up in what could be an every day situation for them, and then Edwards waits for natural expressions and poses to appear before she takes the photo.

I really like how Edwards chose to make the two shots as similar as possible, while still leaving room to acknowledge the changes in the subjects' lives, including age, societal role, and relationship between the subjects involved. It's interesting to see how the environment has changed compared to the subjects, and to see if that's related to how their role in the family/society has changed over the 20 years. For example, the images above show a young family of three transformed into a family of four, with a daughter in university. The space has a few upgrades too, while still being recognisable as the same home.

Edwards also makes sure to show the big changes in people's lives, as it's not always possible to take the same shot 20 years apart. The above set of images is a perfect example of this, as the child has grown up and moved out, and the parents' roles have changed completely. I think it's nice to see how much more relaxed and calm the pair are now that their lives have changed dramatically, however I prefer when the photos have the same shot, as it consistent and lets the viewer notice all the similarities and differences, instead of having a completely different photograph. I would be interested in seeing the same concept but with shorter intervals between each shoot to see how the families evolve over time.

How am I taking this artist into consideration for my own work?

I like the idea of having half-candid, half-posed portraits, as it can be hard to get a fully candid photo when the subject knows they're being photographed. I would love to use her concept of the same shot 20 years apart with my own portraits, either for self-portraits or portraits of my grandparents. However this would be difficult to do for my grandparents as they live pretty far from me, and they don't have the skills or equipment to recreate the portraits themselves. It would be slightly easier for self portraiture, but again I don't have the right equipment. I would need a tripod and a cable release, as well as a backdrop and studio lights.