Review: "Portraits of Cape Breton" by Alfred LeBlanc

Portraits of Cape Breton by Alfred LeBlanc
Published May 2024 via SPP Publications
★★★★

What the title says: portraits taken in communities on Cape Breton. The book was published in 2024 but many of the portraits taken some 30 years ago, and I'm guessing things look rather different now—the world was just a different place in the 90s. But I'm reminded of Appalachian Legacy, I think, in the way we're seeing a wee little slice of things for a handful of individuals. Curious about why so many of these portraits are of older folks (perhaps LeBlanc was trying to capture a generation that even at the time was fading out?), but I love the little descriptions under many of the photos; they don't provide a full life story, but they offer an anecdote or a bit of context or a bit of colour.

Says LeBlanc: You might ask, why black and white? Most photography, including my own, is done in colour. That's how we see the world. Colour is an important part of the beauty we see in the world around us. So why do black and white? Colour 'pretends' to capture reality. As such, I have frequently had a gut reaction of disappointment: "that doesn't capture the experience I had on that beach or in those mountains, or with that person". Black and white doesn't trigger that sentiment quite as much because it does not pretend to capture reality. It is clearly and unapologetically an abstraction. And, of course, it suits the subjects in this case, creating an appropriate mood in capturing older people in somewhat traditional settings. (VII)