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MISSISSIPPI MEMORIES
MURPHY STYLE

Photographer Ken Murphy

A
Shares His All-time Favorite Photos

As an award-winning pho- native state, from ethereal essence of a place.”

tographer and owner of Ken
Murphy South Publishing &
Photography in Bay St. Louis,
Ken Murphy loves a challenge.
He battles the elements and
improvises props to make the
most of memorable moments he
wants to capture on film. He
eagerly champions the
untapped potential of
Mississippi, and actively partic-
ipates in plans to rebuild his
hometown of Bay St. Louis into
the jewel of the Gulf Coast that
he knows it can be.
Murphy’s popular coffee
table books titled ‘My South
Coast Home’ and ‘Mississippi’
showcase the splendor of his
coastal visages to pastoral
scenes of fertile fields and his-
toric churches. He reminds us
of our favorite haunts, like
restaurants or casinos, or
invites us to discover new ones,
whether they be a rocking blues
joint or a serene state park.
And he loves seeing how his
audience responds.
“I can’t play instruments, but
I like to play an image,” said
Murphy. “Visuals, like music,
evoke emotion. It’s very satisfy-
ing when someone has a reac-
tion to one of my photographs,
be it laughter or awe in nature.
All I’m doing is capturing
Mother Nature, or life or the
Recently awarded the 2008
Independent Publishers Bronze
Medal for ‘Best Regional Non-
Fiction,’ Murphy’s ‘My South
Coast Home’ presents photo-
graphs of South Mississippi in
its pre-Katrina days. Also this
year, his second book,
‘Mississippi’ was nominated for
a Mississippi Institute of Arts
and Letters award.
Murphy currently works on
the second edition to
‘Mississippi’ and a collection of
courthouse photographs from
every county in the state.
“I invite anyone interested in
being a part of history to con-
tact me about becoming an hon-

STORY BY KRISTEN TWEDT

PHOTOS COURTESY KEN MURPHY

south mississippi scene • 2 3

destinations: ken murphy photogra p h s
orary co-publisher on the court-
house book,” said Murphy.
“We will be printing cus-
tomized copies for corporate
clients and individuals who
would like to publish this title
with their business insignia or
other design for the cover.
These will be keepsake books
designed with Mississippi
courthouses as the focal point.”
Murphy encourages fans of
his photographs to join him in
continuing to bolster south
Mississippi's growth and devel-
opment with only the state’s
future at heart.
“Now is the time to think
big,” said Murphy. “Truman
said, ‘It is amazing what you
can accomplish if you don’t
care who gets the credit.’ It’s
time for us to work together to
get things done. That way, it
helps everybody.” Touting new
ideas for unimodal transporta-
tion that utilizes maglev tech-
nology in mass transit systems
and alternative fuel sources,
like solar and wind energy for
powering new construction,
Murphy promotes a new way of
thinking about Mississippi
while capturing timeless images
that demonstrate the rich diver-
sity of people and places that
make his home state one worth
watching.
Here are Ken’s personal ‘Top
Ten Most Memorable
Photographs and his all-time
favorite photo. Can you guess
which one is his top pick?
1 - Seawall, North Beach
Boulevard “I was heading out
in the early morning looking
for fog pictures, and found this
just right at the foot of my
street. This was taken close to
where I used to live on Leonard
Ave in Bay St. Louis before
Katrina. The piers were wiped
out years before by other
storms, but you can see some
that are standing in the photo.
Those are gone now, but some
have been replaced. That whole
area got wiped out. We lost
everything, the house and all. I
2

had the film for the photos in
both my books ready to evacu-
ate, but I lost all my other film,
including family photos. I wish
I had saved more, that I had
more ready to take with me.
Hindsight is 20/20, you know.”
2 - Pelicans on Pilings
“This is one of my favorite
spots, which is where I fish.
When I’m sitting there, I’m
always watching those pelicans
and fishing, right at the head of
our street, Washington Street.
Right after Katrina, we were
near that spot on the beach, and
everything was devastated, just
gone. Somebody asked, ‘Why
do we even live here?’ I told
him, ‘Close your eyes. Turn
around and face the water.
Open your eyes and look that
way. You look at the water.
That will remind you why we
live here. It’s still beautiful. We
go fishing, look at the water,
say the hell with the rest, and
laugh. I tell people, this ain’t no
time to lose your sense of
humor.”
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3 - O Brother Where Art Thou
Prop, Sharkey County “I met a
guy down here on the Coast
who was from there, Jerry
Martin. He took me up there
and showed me that and some
other things, like one of the first
commercial catfish ponds. That
movie prop was built from the
ground up, brand new, as a
prop. People came from all over
and took it apart for mementos.
That shot was taken in 2003.”
4 - Murphy’s Law, Pot at the
End This is the classic example
south mississippi scene • 2 5
destinations: ken murphy photogra p h s
of luck - being in the right spot
at the right time. That shot was
taken at the head of
Washington Street in Bay St.
Louis, what we call Washington
pier. I was just driving around,
like I do a lot. I saw the rain-
bow, got out, and then noticed
the rainbow appeared to be
ending in the Port-O-Let. One
side of my brain said, ‘Wow,
what luck.’ The other side said,
‘Get the camera, you idiot.’ A
lot of people think it’s a fake,
but it’s absolutely authentic.
It’s not a Photoshop gag. The
way people react to it tells you
a lot about some people’s sense
of humor. Sometimes, they just
don’t have one. They look at
that and don’t get it. That
always amazes me. How can
you not get that? Where there
should be a pot of gold is a toi-
let.”
5 - Hal and Mal’s, Jackson
“I felt like Hal and Mal’s is an
iconic location in Jackson, but I
like this photo because of the
split image. Two shots in one. It
makes you question, are you
looking at two photos or one?
1
This was taken late at night. A
lot of my interiors are. I like
for them to be void of people,
because they’ll blur in the
image and will take away detail
from the foreground. People
usually turn out to be distrac-
tion, but sometimes it adds
interest. Sometimes it takes
away from the detail. There are
no hard and fast rules, really,
just whatever works for a shot.”
6 - Killer Beaver, Sardis Lake
That beaver attacked me. My
son Dylan and I saw this beaver
coming out across the lake. I
8

ran out to stop him. While I’m
trying to keep him at bay with
the tripod, I was squatting
down low, trying to get a shot
of him. He started snapping his
teeth and his tail. That scared
me, and I fell with my legs
wide open in the sand. I was
worried about him taking a
very unfortunate bite out of me!
Then I pulled my tripod down
and hit myself in the head with
the camera. My son was practi-
cally wetting himself, laughing.
The beaver didn’t bite me.
Usually, I’m more worried
about the people than the crit-
ters, but I guess that depends
on where I’m at.”
7 - Ground Zero Blues Club,
Clarksdale “Ground Zero is
owned by actor Morgan
Freeman, Bill Luckett and Ande
2 8 • south mississippi scene
Howard Stovall. It’s a famous
eating joint in Clarksdale. If
you talk about that area, you
gotta talk about that place. I
link to think this photo captures
the essence of the club.
8 - Windmill, Aberdeen
“That shot is from a cornfield
on Hwy 45 up near Aberdeen. I
remember that day well. I was
going to Starkville. Driving by,
I saw the windmill in the corn.
It was lightly drizzling out. I
swung around to go back and
get it. Had my 4 X 5 camera and
was setting it up on my extend-
ed tripod. I climbed on top of
my van to see through the lens
and slipped, knocked the cam-
era down and broke it. I had a
second camera and got the shot.
I guess it was a blessing in dis-
guise. The camera needed
4
repairing, and I had been put-
ting it off. That’s probably the
most expensive shot in the
book. I figure it cost me at least
$2,000. But what I like about
that shot is that it almost takes
you out of Mississippi and puts
you in the bread basket of the
Mid-West. It has a surreal qual-
ity to it. It shows how diverse
our state is and the scenery you
can find.”
9 - Skiffs, Bay St. Louis
“This was taken in Bay St. Louis
about 1990. I’ve had several
people ask if they could paint
that image. You don’t see skiffs
like that anymore. People hard-
ly use the old wooden skiffs.
They’re big and bulky, don’t go
fast. They’re a thing of the past,
basically. My uncle, Victor
Carver, had one very similar to
the one in the background.
They fished commercially with
a net. My uncle didn’t even
have a motor on it. We worked
it with oars, were out there
daylight to dark, rowing the
boat up and down the coastline.
I was a kid. It was Huckleberry
Finn type stuff.”
If you guessed ‘Murphy’s
Law’ is Ken’s favorite, then you
guessed right. Said Murphy,
“It’s my favorite because it
sums up my life in one photo-
graph. My Murphy’s Law is a
reminder to be prepared for the
unexpected, camera in hand,
and to remember that it’s those
unforeseen, unplanned
moments that always seem to
lead to something memorable
in the end.
To order autographed titles
by Ken Murphy, visit his web-
site at
www.kenmurphysouth.com or
purchase at most bookstores.
You may reach ken murphy at
kenmurphysouth@aol.com or
call 228-216-0465 for more
information.