“Say,” he said, “you look like you might be in the horse business…am I right?”
“No,” I said. “I’m a photographer.”
… I shook my head and said nothing; just stared at him for a moment, trying to look grim. “There’s going to be trouble,” I said. “My assignment is to take pictures of the riot.”‘Â
- Hunter S. Thompson, “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved”
THE CONCEPT OF THE RITES OF SPRING SERIES
The Kentucky Derby has been at the center of Louisville Culture for a over a century. The innate sub-culture surrounding it is a cult of personality, an undercurrent of the city of Louisville and county of Jefferson and Commonwealth at it’s core. The money, the arts, all of the culture of this mid-sized mid-western, near-southern with the belief system of a mercentile north town depends on it. The beginning of each year depends on this production process to make things happen, the arts and commerce depend upon it. But outside of the money production-process, the lives that are pushing it forward is an underlying belief system – beyond that is the cultures of that belief system and the revolving international presence that one time per year.
INFIELD
Ashley Suzanne knows how scorching the Infield at Churchill Downs can get during the first weekend in May. Photographer/Creative Director Bil Brown captures this look, which is more likely to be seen than one might think with the commercial offerings from the local rags.
