Matthew Rainwaters - Beard

MATTHEW RAINWATERS

ESSAYS

JOHN PRICE

BRYAN NELSON

CRAIG STECKBECK

PATRICK MELCHER

$TEVEN RA$PA

ALEXANDER CONQUISTADOR ANTEBI

IN THE SPRING OF 2007 I FOUND MYSELF QUITTING MY JOB in the middle of a teachers meeting. I had taught photography for three years in a Los Angeles high school, and I was done with it. A few months later I was living in Austin, Texas, putting together a portfolio and trying to restart my career as a photographer. Thats when I met Craig Steckbeck, a bearded and burly graphic designer working for an upstart bottled tea company.

I found out Craig had just won a local beard contest and was planning to shave his face due to the intense summer heat. So I made a portrait of him and then told him about an international beard contest Id heard about taking place in Alaska in two years time. It was perfect: He could compete in a world class competition, and I could experience the majesty of Alaska. The only catchCraig couldnt shave his beard for the next two years.

So thats how we found ourselves, two years later, at the 2009 World Beard and Moustache Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. The scene was unreal. Huge mountains hugged the city from all sides, and crazy-looking hirsute men flooded the streets and bars downtown. There was an odd mixture of competition and camaraderie: these men had grown and cultivated their facial hairto excessfor most of their lives and they were fiercely committed to the art of grooming.

The day before the competition featured a beard parade, the obligatory press meetings, and a drunken happy hour at the event center. But tensions were also running high. I witnessed an intense debate about the location of the next world championships. Dozens of different accents, all offering an opinion, are fairly hard to follow, but I think I understood that the European contingent wanted the next battle to take place in Europe, while the American team wanted it in Australia. I had no idea that beard growers could be so opinionated and passionate.

The day of the event came, and the veteran competitors arrived in elaborate period costumes that matched their faces perfectly; some had replica guns in their belts, others masterfully carved pipes in their mouths, whale harpoons in hand, or, of course, lederhosen. The rookies looked more thrown togethergood enough to get them in the door but not up to the caliber of most of these men. As round after round of judging came and went, the competitors headed toward the bar and then stumbled into the room where Id set up my light and camera.

It makes my job easy when everywhere I look there is another striking personality willing to have his photo taken. For me it was important to document these guys in the most honest way I could. I am aware the subject itself is a little kitschy, and I didnt want the photos to be the same. I had to shoot them in a style that didnt embellish the characters they had invented for themselves; their facial hair did a pretty good job of that. To do this I used a light that didnt create any shadows on the face. When they were in front of the camera I asked them to relax and clear their head, and then in most cases I made mug shots in which the hair became the sole subject.

The result is a catalog of this strange and unusual culture of men, united the world over through their primitive yet elaborate grooming techniques. A book of beards.

BRENT NUTING | Austin, TX

BRETT SCHMITZ | Granite Falls, WA

DEVIN CARA | Springfield, MO

RYAN HOPPE | Detroit, MI

BURKE KENNY | Olympia, WA

JAEDON AVEY | Anchorage, AK

JEFF WELL | Port Angeles, WA

JEFF VIDOUREK | Boise, ID

DANIEL SPERRY | Detroit, MI

DAVID JANZEN | Thunder Bay, Ontario