Book Description

Bud Dorsey is West Louisville's most iconic living photographer. While working at American Synthetic Rubber Company in the 1960s, he took photographs on the side and began getting his work published in the Louisville Defender and the Courier-Journal. He freelanced like this into the early 1980s, publishing photographs not just in local newspapers but also in national publications such as the iconic JET magazine. In 1981, Bud joined the staff of the Defender as its sole full-time photojournalist. Now able to document the community he cared about so deeply on a full-time basis, he became more prolific than ever. In the 20+ years Bud held that position, no one documented life in Louisville¿especially within the Black community¿more richly than he did. He did it all with modest tools: unremarkable cameras, no lighting equipment, limited supplies of film, and a tiny, simple darkroom. To this day, Bud is seemingly at every event in West Louisville¿cultural showcases, church functions, protests, civic meetings, athletic events, crime scenes, etc. He finds almost everything interesting, and as a result his body of work represents an impressively rich portrait of life in Louisville over the years.The photographs in Available Light show us life in Louisville as many of us have never seen it before. Bud teaches us how to look at our community: with love, curiosity, respect, nuance, concern, playfulness, hope, heartbreak, and pride. Available Light is a love letter to Louisville, crafted outside of mainstream arts and media worlds over the course of decades by a man who cares and has always there to bear witness.