John Edwin May

10/21/2026

I’m pleased to share that Plate V, from my series McFarland’s — One Season, has been selected by juror Meredith Fleischer for The Human Experience exhibition at PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont.

For seventeen months, I photographed the McFarland family and their life raising to***co in East Tennessee. Returning to this work after so many years has reminded me how much of documentary photography comes from time—staying, watching, and allowing the photographs to reveal themselves.

The Human Experience
PhotoPlace Gallery
Middlebury, Vermont
December 4–26, 2026

Plate V
John Edwin May

10/04/2026

A photograph of mine is now part of the 2026 Photo Review International Photography Competition Winners Gallery.

“Silo” is from my ongoing series, Seen / Unseen: When the Water Falls, which I have been photographing across East Tennessee as seasonal water levels reveal what has been hidden beneath the lakes.

This is a new body of work for me, and seeing “Silo” presented by Photo Review is especially meaningful. It is the first time this work has been publicly shown beyond my own website.

The competition was juried by Dr. Sarah Kennel, the inaugural Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography and Director of the Raysor Center for Works on Paper at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

https://photoreview.org/2026-competition/2026-competition-winners-gallery/

08/25/2026

Oh My…I may need to find my way 📷‼️😎

𝙁𝘼𝙈𝙄𝙇𝙄𝙀𝙎 𝙁𝙀𝙐𝘿 𝘼𝙏 𝙀𝙈𝙋𝙊𝙒𝙀𝙍𝙍𝙍
It’s Champions vs Champions AND Siblings vs. Siblings at KFW–NWA 𝙀𝙈𝙋𝙊𝙒𝙀𝙍𝙍𝙍, live Fri., August 28, in Sevierville, TN, and streaming on NWA’s YouTube. NWALiveEvents.com

At 𝙀𝙈𝙋𝙊𝙒𝙀𝙍𝙍𝙍, the NWA World Tag Team Champions The Country Gentlemen, brothers AJ & KC Cazana, face the NWA World Women’s Tag Team Champions Pretty Empowered, sisters Kenzie & Kylie Paige, in an explosive Champions vs Champions Battle of the Sexes!

The last time these sibling duos clashed in an all/out war of the territories, The Gents emerged victorious. But with a hometown advantage for the Paige Sisters at 𝙀𝙈𝙋𝙊𝙒𝙀𝙍𝙍𝙍, they have every intention of proving once-and-for-all who the NWA’s most dominant tag team champion siblings are!

𝙀𝙈𝙋𝙊𝙒𝙀𝙍𝙍𝙍 streams LIVE on the NWA YouTube channel beginning at 8PM ET for FREE. Fans attending live will also enjoy an exclusive pre-show experience beginning when doors open at 7PM ET, featuring a live podcast, an interactive fan Q&A, and a special meet-and-greet with NWA World Women’s Tag Team Champions Pretty Empowered, Kylie & Kenzie Paige, before the action gets underway.

Tickets to KFW-NWA 𝙀𝙈𝙋𝙊𝙒𝙀𝙍𝙍𝙍 are on sale NOW at NWALiveEvents.com. General Admission tickets are just $20, with Rows 1 and 2 Ringside available for $25. Tickets will also be available at the door on the day of the show, but don’t wait—secure your seats today! NWALiveEvents.com

08/24/2026

Twenty-five years later, a photograph came looking for me.

In 2001, I made Pears, part of my Trinity Series. The photograph began as a 6×7 black-and-white negative and eventually became a chromogenic print.

The photograph has a little history of its own. An earlier print from the Trinity Series was offered through a Knoxville Museum of Art fundraising exhibition. That year, a Christie’s auctioneer conducting the evening’s live auction selected Pears for the next evening's auction, where it sold for considerably more than its original asking price.

At the time, I was simply delighted that someone wanted to own my photograph. I certainly wasn’t thinking about provenance and archival records the way I do today.

Then, a few days ago, I received an unexpected email from the current owner of Artist’s Proof #2.

She had found my name and wanted to know more about the photograph—its history, the original negative, exhibition information, and anything else I might still have in my archive. She told me she loved the continuous tones and depth of the print and was preparing to frame it using conservation-grade museum materials.

I still have the original negative.

That stopped me for a moment.

A photograph I made twenty-five years ago is now in someone else’s collection, and she cares enough about it to preserve not only the photograph, but its history.

I think photographers sometimes forget that our photographs can continue living long after we’ve finished making them.

This one reminded me.

Keep making photographs.

— John Edwin May

09/09/2025

08/03/2025