"Stranger with a Camera"

“Stranger with a Camera” produced and directed by Elizabeth Barret is a film of a shocking murder in Eastern Kentucky and what it really means to photograph or document someone with objective.

Elizabeth Barret, an Eastern Kentucky native herself, investigates the murder of Canadian filmmaker Hugh O’Conner. In 1967 O’Conner was hired to photograph and document images of troubled communities. O’Conner headed to Eastern Kentucky since Pres. Johnson had declared the “War on Poverty” and Eastern Kentucky was named as the “poster child.” Hobart Ison a lifelong resident and landowner in Lecher County, Kentucky, didn’t approve of O’Conner setting foot on his property and photographing him of what he claimed as character assassination by camera. Ison did not want to be portrayed as a person in poverty. He shot and killed O’Conner in self defense in order to avoid being shamed by the camera, “I had to do it. What would he have done to me picture-wise and all?” Ison was sent to prison for ten years however was released after one year on parole. While filming Barret reports that the community thought that Hobart Ison “had stood his ground, and, in doing that, was a kind of hero.” The Kentucky community agrees with Ison’s way of handling the situation, however, it could have been handled in a more effective way.

Elizabeth Barret documents the murder of Hugh O’Conner because she wanted “to tell fairly what I saw; to be true to the experiences of both Hugh O'Connor and Hobart Ison.” “In other words, if communities or events contain diverse points of view, the filmmakers should attempt to represent that diversity.” (Lawrence Daressa, par. 9). Barret posed the question “What are the responsibilities of any of us who take images of other people and put them to our own uses?” She chose Kentucky as a place to film because she describes it as “inundated with picture takers.” To try to photograph with a nonbiased or objective eye is one of the hardest responsibilities for photographers and filmmakers. I believe that by photographing cultural defects and the abnormal not only brings about awareness, but to question the norm of the culture.