• The two have spent a lifetime documenting the world around them.

Watching documentaries and reading memoirs and other works of creative nonfiction has become almost an obsession with me. My fascination is probably due to the fact that the stories being told are real and true. Learning how people overcome obstacles or create a life for themselves that is vastly different from the expected trajectory ignites my own imagination. That is especially true of creative endeavors or lives that are rooted in the pursuit of creative storytelling in one way or another. 

In Mississippi, a couple living in Sumner, Mississippi, has created a life that is full, and rich, and filled with stories they’ve collected in their forty-plus years of marriage. Langdon and Maude Schuyler Clay are professional photographers who have spent a lifetime documenting the world around them, whether in an ancient cemetery in the middle of Paris or a dog on a log in a cypress swamp deep in the Mississippi Delta. 

Thanks to mindless scrolling on Facebook recently, I came across a post by Maude where she mentioned that several people had asked her where they could watch Thad Lee’s documentary about them called “Two Lives in Photography.” It seems Thad is set to get a special award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters for the film on June 14. Maude also included a link to the documentary, which can be viewed on YouTube. 

I have been a fan of Maude Schuyler Clay since I interviewed her years ago for an article I wrote on photographer William “Bill” Eggleston. I was somewhat familiar with Eggleston’s work. My editor gave me a list of contacts, and Maude was on that list. During our conversation, she realized I had no idea she and Eggleston were first cousins – their mothers were sisters. She explained their relationship and gave me wonderful insight for my article. 

Curious, I clicked the link to the documentary and spent the next hour and a half transfixed. “Two Lives in Photography” showcases not only the work of Langdon and Maude but also the love of place that is reflected in their work as well as their love for each other. 

Oxford Film Festival veteran Thad Lee directed the film, which focuses on a photography retrospective by the same name at the Mary Buie Museum on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford. The exhibit was curated by Melanie Munns Antonelli. The pieces in the exhibit feature photographs taken by the couple over a span of decades, including some taken before they married. 

In the film, Langdon says the couple met in 1976 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

“We were at a show for Bill Eggleston – his first ever color photography show.”

Maude had spent time in New York interning for Eggleston.

Lee spent three years producing the film. It begins in 2020, with Landon and Maude walking through the gallery, each relaying the stories behind the photographs, as well as describing how they, as photographers, were able to capture the photos with their respective cameras.

“Somehow you see something and you snap it, and you know you’ve got the prize,” says Langdon. “Other times you’re on a hunt. It could be for months or even years. Then you’ll see a special thing.”

Langdon is a master at seeing the symbolism in seemingly ordinary things, and that adds an interesting dynamic to his work. Maude says she has always been a proponent of photography being very much connected to literature.

“All these photos are stories,” she says in the film. “I like the idea of marrying words and images.”

She had three prominent Mississippi writers write the foreword to her books. Lewis Nordan wrote the foreword to Delta Land, Brad Watson wrote the foreword to Delta Dogs, and for Maude’s portrait book called Mississippi History, the foreword was written by Richard Ford. 

The film was artfully shot by cinematographer Gregory Gray, and the hauntingly beautiful score was by Delta native Jim “Fish” Michie, best known in these parts for being one of the founders of The Tangents. 

At the end of the film, Maude says, “As freelance photographers and artists, we set out without any real guarantee that our work was ever going to be shown or any of it was ever gonna be published. I think one of the commonalities that Langdon and I have is that we believed that was what we were going to do, no matter what. It has paid off, because, you know, it’s kept us occupied for the past forty years.”

For a teaser to the film, take a moment to watch this trailer. If you’re a person who enjoys learning about the stories behind the artist and their work, you will probably enjoy “Two Lives in Photography” as much as I did.