Dr. Kenneth Tunnell of Eastern Kentucky University has recently authored a new book of interest titled, "Seeing the Unseen." The book focuses on Tunnell’s photographic self-reflection on the meaning of making photographs while featuring his infrared photographs of cemeteries.
Tunnell has been interested in photography and camera work since his youth. In 2004 he became interested in visual sociology, a type of sociology that is concerned with the visual dimensions of social life. Tunnell began taking courses to become more skilled and educated in this field.
In his new book, Tunnell features infrared photographs taken in cemeteries in Garrett, Madison, and Lincoln County.
“There’s something about a headstone or monument that just looks so good with the infrared style,” he said.
The book also includes pictures of text, explaining why Tunnell photographs his subjects and his overall process in making the infrared photographs. The aesthetic of these images is not his main concern, he says. Tunnell seeks to get people more in touch with not only their past but their personal solitude as well.
“Photographing cemeteries, no matter the cemetery, generates memories of those gone before and thoughts of our own non-existence,” said Tunnell, “The potential for fascination, for the discovery that awaits and for seeing the unseen make the effort all worthwhile.”